Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own. In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
Dec 6, 2023
I rarely stream music (Amazon Prime Music only very occasionally), because a major part of my experience is the control I can exert researching, collecting, organizing, and curating my absolute favorites. Listening to exactly what I when, when I want, no strings attached, is immensely satisfying.
When I shop for music I've read about or heard and like (usually on Sirius XM), my first stop is 7Digital. If they don't have a FLAC version, I'll buy the mp3 from Amazon. If 7Digital does have FLAC, I'll usually spring for the highest resolution. Lossless vs. lossy is one thing - why would you buy 70% of something if the 100% version is available for a little more money? The storage space and download time arguments are no longer valid. And for the most part, yes, I can tell the difference between mp3 and FLAC/CD quality - mp3 is weaker, shallower, less detailed, phony. It just feels like there's less music there. What about higher sampling rates? If scientists have proven that we can't hear the difference, you may wonder why I bother. Elitism? Probably. But I need that. I want to be among the elite, the cognoscenti, the discerning, refined listeners. A few more cents for a 96 kHz/24 bit version vs 44.1 kHz/16 bit? Definitely worth it to my ego.
As many other commentators have pointed out here, there are many pieces to the puzzle. The entire chain from performance to listening is important - engineering, mastering, playback, decoding, software, hardware, all of it. When you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out. But well-produced music can be thrilling at most levels. I'm listening to the Special Disco mix of Blondie's "Rapture" right now in 269 kbps mp3 (on Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers), and it is VERY good. I know it would be even better in lossless.