sonicshoulder Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I know 1800 Gram is the new standard but I find myself playing my 120 grams more because I get twice the songs per side thus less flipping and more listening. I kinda feel the convenience outweighs the listening quality. Just a thought, anybody care to comment. Also wondering about wireless headphones. Anybody have a pair and if so are they worth that convenience? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 320kbs just joking. i'm curious about headphones too. i bought what it thought were some midlevel panasonic cans a 2 years ago and they just died. finding good phones is quite a quest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
howdjadoo Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Can't compare but am happy with these: http://www.sennheiserusa.com/cordless-headphones-wireless-stereo-sound-009922 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I am happy with any record I want on any grade I can get. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I am happy with any record I want on any grade I can get. LouieB right...if the tune is good i'll listen to a scratched up record on a crappy hi-fi :-) i can't go down that audiophile road...i'd never listen to music for enjoyment anymore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I am happy with any record I want on any grade I can get. LouieB Same here. I don't need, or even want, perfection. I'm much happier going home with 20 records from a dollar bin than spending $20 on one 180g album. I have a bunch of 180g Impulse reissues. They sound very nice, but I don't get any more enjoyment from listening to them than I do from a lower grade record that I like equally. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sonicshoulder Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 I am happy with any record I want on any grade I can get. LouieBPretty much my opinion as well. I'd prefer they just put as many songs on the record as possible. Don't know that I can hear the difference between the 120g and 180g. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Pretty much my opinion as well. I'd prefer they just put as many songs on the record as possible. Don't know that I can hear the difference between the 120g and 180g. In order to hear a difference you'd probably have to spend thousands upgrading your hi-fi equipment, and who wants to chase that dragon? It's not worth it. You could spend your life savings creating the perfect listening environment, only to have it all ruined every time you put on a record and the phone rings or your wife/kid asks you a simple question. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rockinrob Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Sonic shoulder, that isnt the way length works on a record. Length is a function of the loudness of a record and the amount of bass. The usual quoted optimum length is 18 minutes per side, and when you get above that, the record has to get quieter. It becomes noticeable around 22 minutes, and nosedives after 25. I have a 30 minute per side Neil Young record (weld) that is at least 50% quieter than an average album. This is because of the way the grooves are cut, and it gets complicated, but you can google search if you want to know exactly how all this works. The real indicator of quality vinyl pressing is the mastering and pressing. 180 g is just a marketing trick, and offers no real benefit other than being thicker. Great mastering engineers and pressing plants make great records. I even have records made from CD masters at 16 bit 44khz that sound really good on my turntable. Most affordable CD players basically suck, and there are many killer vintage tables that can be had for cheap, and easily beat out average CD players, meaning even if you have a CD master LP when you compare the LP and the CD, the LP would be better. On better mastered material, the differences are freaking huge. Tom Petty's Mojo vinyl is sourced from 24 bit 192khz and it is one of my standout sounding LPs. The pressing plant is where the pops and clicks and noise come from. If they dont heat the vinyl pellets up enough, or dont press it for long enough, or dont let it cool off enough, or get it too hot, there will be sound issues. I have found that every record I have from Pallas, RTI, and URP sounds great. I know the names Chris Bellman, Bernie Grundman, Stan Ricker, and Kevin Gray because those engineer names pop up often on records that sound great. As for old LPs, for a combination of the above reasons, they can often sound many times better than new produced 180 gram versions. If your new 180g lp came from a CD master, had a shoddy pressing, and an engineer trying to learn the ropes, vs the original lp pressed in 1970 at a great plant, mastered by Robert Ludwig from the original master tapes, the original will kill it, hands down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sonicshoulder Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Sonic shoulder, that isnt the way length works on a record. Length is a function of the loudness of a record and the amount of bass. The usual quoted optimum length is 18 minutes per side, and when you get above that, the record has to get quieter. It becomes noticeable around 22 minutes, and nosedives after 25. I have a 30 minute per side Neil Young record (weld) that is at least 50% quieter than an average album. This is because of the way the grooves are cut, and it gets complicated, but you can google search if you want to know exactly how all this works. The real indicator of quality vinyl pressing is the mastering and pressing. 180 g is just a marketing trick, and offers no real benefit other than being thicker. Great mastering engineers and pressing plants make great records. I even have records made from CD masters at 16 bit 44khz that sound really good on my turntable. Most affordable CD players basically suck, and there are many killer vintage tables that can be had for cheap, and easily beat out average CD players, meaning even if you have a CD master LP when you compare the LP and the CD, the LP would be better. On better mastered material, the differences are freaking huge. Tom Petty's Mojo vinyl is sourced from 24 bit 192khz and it is one of my standout sounding LPs. The pressing plant is where the pops and clicks and noise come from. If they dont heat the vinyl pellets up enough, or dont press it for long enough, or dont let it cool off enough, or get it too hot, there will be sound issues. I have found that every record I have from Pallas, RTI, and URP sounds great. I know the names Chris Bellman, Bernie Grundman, Stan Ricker, and Kevin Gray because those engineer names pop up often on records that sound great. As for old LPs, for a combination of the above reasons, they can often sound many times better than new produced 180 gram versions. If your new 180g lp came from a CD master, had a shoddy pressing, and an engineer trying to learn the ropes, vs the original lp pressed in 1970 at a great plant, mastered by Robert Ludwig from the original master tapes, the original will kill it, hands down.Forgive me if you answered this but my gripe with 180g vinyls is that they usually can't hold an entire album on one disc. Is there not a correlation betweeen 180g and the amount of music it can hold? It just seems for my personal opinion having the entire album on one disc beats the supposed aural benefits of 180g's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rockinrob Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 ummm 180g has nothing to do with the length of music an album can hold, length has to do with the volume of the music and the amount of bass. 180g refers to the weight of the vinyl used to make the disc. They range from about 110g to over 200g Did you read my post? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sonicshoulder Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Actually I did about 4 times. So a 120 with the same amount of music time wise can/could sound just as good as a 180, it would just undermine marketing of the thick platter. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rockinrob Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Actually I did about 4 times. So a 120 with the same amount of music time wise can/could sound just as good as a 180, it would just undermine marketing of the thick platter. Sorry if I sounded snappy, I didnt mean too! Yep. I have some great sounding thin records, but that is hard to explain on a sticker on the cover. 180 gram records do feel higher in quality because they are thicker, and some people say they warp less. Records were closer to 180g earlier, and during the oil embargo in the 70s got substantially thinner. records from the late 70s and 80s are super thin, and if you have mostly 50s and 60s vinyl, it would be better to set your turntable up for the thicker ones, and therefore 180g records would sound better than thin ones. I think it is mostly because the thickness makes people feel that it is a higher quality product. I buy all new music on vinyl and I rarely buy reissues, unless the original is rare enough I will be unlikely to ever run into it at a local store, or if the original is substantially more expensive than a reissue. I try to research the new records I buy to determine the source used and/or who mastered and pressed it. Often times if a record is offered in 140 and 180, I will buy the 140. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
W(TF) Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 What a weird thread. I think, but am not sure, that the OP was referring to how on many of the 180g issues, they will also split the records over four sides instead of trying to jam it onto two. They often have no choice if they want to maintain decent sound quality. In the old days a record was programmed for 40-45 mins of music based on the capacity of an LP. With CD's holding up to 70 mins., many single-CD issues need 2 LP's to do them any justice, especially if the customer is already paying a premium for 180g. But the thickness/weight of a record has no direct correlation to the length of music you can fit on a side. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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