We're in business.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Mik said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer said in We're in business.:

Listening to Yes's Fragile now.

How is this shit so good? I've heard "Roundabout" so many times it's almost become boring. But this is so different. Why?

It's not a nostalgic thing. My dad listened largely to WDVE and DC101 growing up, his albums were in storage.

It's not the record crackling. I heard that growing up and never gave a shit.

I think it's two things:

• With Spotify, instant access to everything means nothing is special. But you can only listen to records you own. Scarcity makes it kinda special.
• It's a huge pain in the ass to select songs, so you don't, you select albums. You let them run in their entirety, beginning to end. So you're locked in: whatever the band and producers intended, that's what you're listening to. Which forces you to pay attention.

The music from that era - 65-74 - was so damn good. So inventive. Much of it had classical and jazz roots as well.

Absolutely it was. My dad put the vinyl in storage, but I heard this music all. The. Time. growing up. Driving 45 minutes into town to get dinner and a movie, blasting the shit throughout the house during spring cleaning, just everywhere. Especially when my uncles were in town.

One was in the merchant marines, another a Ranger. When they were home, my parents partied. From when they'd meet up until sometimes 3 AM. This went on for decades. (Back then, they were the age I am now.)

I can't tell you how many times I'd wake up on the couch at my grandmother's house (or ours), most of the lights would be off, but my parents and uncles would still be drinking beer and bullshitting in the kitchen. Telling jokes, talking football, talking movies. Steely Dan's "Do it Again," Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," David Bowie's "Young Americans," and everything on "Wish You Were Here" are permanently burned in my memory.

I loved waking up to those sounds: my family hanging out, music in the living room. Absolutely loved it. I know those songs by heart.

Things got weird after my grandmother passed. Some stupid real estate bullshit caused a rift with my parents and my merchant marine uncle; he'd come into DC sometimes and we'd see live music together, but he and my parents only conversed on the phone and only when they had to. He died a couple years ago. His partner put together what I think amounted to a pretty halfass service, quite awhile after he passed at that.

My other uncle lived in Germany for awhile, about the time I was born. Got married to a nurse. We met her a few times, she was nice. By the time we moved, he had divorced and moved back home. After my grandmother died, he disappeared into West Virginia, then Montana. Rumor is she moved in with him out there, but no one's seen him for about 10, 15 years.

He used to live 4 miles away and would drop by in the mornings to read the sports section.

I've some of those albums, Mik, but that's a great list. I'll start tracking down the others.

[Mik]

It's hard to lose those touchstones of your youth. They were your foundation.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Mik said in We're in business.:

It's hard to lose those touchstones of your youth. They were your foundation.

Just the tip of the shitberg. On my mom's side, I grew up with two uncles, an aunt, and 6 cousins I was very close to. On my dad's, 7 aunts and uncles, 8 cousins. We grew up together.

Today, I have my parents.

And my wonderful in-laws.

[brenda]

Love this thread, Aqua . So glad you are enjoying the great music of that era. Yes, things happen in families, and it doesn't always stay as fun as we would like, but the music remains, and it's still great stuff.

[Friday]

Congrats on your set up Aqua. Happy listening.

I think it's sad that the technology for listening to music has actually gone down since I was a kid.

I have a friend who spent well over $100K converting a portion of his basement into an audio room. He tried to get his kids interested but they only want to listen to music on their cell phones.

[Jolly]

Didn't Onkyo bite the dust recently?

[89th]

@Jolly said in We're in business.:

Didn't Onkyo bite the dust recently?

Yes.

https://www.lbtechreviews.com/news/hi-fi/onkyo-has-gone-bankrupt

Which is timely since that was the audio receiver I tried setting up in my basement but didn't work well with Zone 2 (nor was it user friendly) so I returned it and went with an Amazon Link Amp.

[mark]

@Aqua-Letifer

I am anxiously waiting for the new Porcupine Tree album on vinyl to arrive.

It was released last Friday and I do have the MP3s and the FLAC files. I listened to it on my big system using the Foobar2000 App on the PC through Bluetooth to a Topping Dx3 Pro DAC to my AKitiKA Pre-amp and amp combo, out to the Klipsch RF-7 Towers and twin 12" Klipsch subwoofers.

It's like the band is right there in living room. The bass drum shakes, rattles and rolls your bones.

The FLAC files sound incredibly good. I will be doing a side by side with the Vinyl when it arrives.

I am at the the point of needing a new stylus. I have well over 1,000 hours of listening on the Nagaoka MP150. The stylus for the MP150 is not cheap and I think I might just spend a little more go for a Boron cantilevered, MP200 stylus this time around. Just waiting to find a good deal on one. I broke my Grado Opus3 cantilever and the only thing Grado has is a replacement discount program. So, no cheap and easy fix for that one. Still deciding on what to do about that one. The discount is significant. They are offering a $500 discount on their $1500 cartridge. That's the top of line in the series. They have 4 levels of pricing starting at $180 for a replacement Opus 3.

[Aqua Letifer]

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer

The FLAC files sound incredibly good. I will be doing a side by side with the Vinyl when it arrives.

Please report on what you find! Still trying to navigate the greater world that is the vinyl soundscape.

[mark]

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

[Aqua Letifer]

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

For audio? Both Spotify and Apple Music.

[George K]

@Aqua-Letifer said in We're in business.:

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

For audio? Both Spotify and Apple Music.

Do you see a difference? If so, what?

Selection? Quality?

[jon-nyc]

@Aqua-Letifer

Did you get a free mullet with that album?

[Aqua Letifer]

@George-K said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer said in We're in business.:

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

For audio? Both Spotify and Apple Music.

Do you see a difference? If so, what?

Selection? Quality?

Quality, no, but selection? Definitely. Spotify has more. But, they can and do pull albums at any moment. Usually only happens with fringe stuff but it's still pretty bullshit.

[Aqua Letifer]

@jon-nyc said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer

Did you get a free mullet with that album?

No but I did get a sleeveless tour shirt and a coupon for a barbed wire tattoo.

[George K]

@mark said in We're in business.:

$1500 cartridge

Well....

[xenon]

@Aqua-Letifer love, love, love the album art. That's the part I miss most about buying physical media.

[George K]

@xenon said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer love, love, love the album art. That's the part I miss most about buying physical media.

Yes, and going from LPs to CDs was quite the shock. There was something special about reaching into the pocket of an LP and pulling out a book about the album/artist.

Somehow, a 5 1/5 "booklet" wasn't quite the same.

[mark]

@Aqua-Letifer said in We're in business.:

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

For audio? Both Spotify and Apple Music.

[Aqua Letifer]

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer said in We're in business.:

@mark said in We're in business.:

@Aqua-Letifer what streaming service(s) do you use?

For audio? Both Spotify and Apple Music.

I'll check it out!

But holy shit, look what I found. Just seems wrong to even try to play this with my shitass setup, but I'm going to have to give it a go.