They are large, take up loads of space, are easily damaged difficult to get and basically just a pain in the ass to use. They attract dust like its going out of fashion, in fact I wonder if the world’s perfect duster would actually be a lump of vinyl on a stick!

So why do we persist when we have the digital promise of perfect sound forever!

Well because the digital promise was a lie on both counts, there have been problems of damage to early cd’s so they did not last forever, on the other hand I have vinyl that is older than me and still going strong. Secondly the sound is far from perfect, although I will admit that in recent years it has stopped sounding like an unruly teenager and matured into a respectable member of society. Vinyl, the old age pensioner has been going from strength to strength and with the Continuum Caliburn has just peaked. It seems like many older things have been peaking lately isn’t technology wonderful!

Vinyl certainly demands respect from its owner but is this such a bad thing. Generally I clean vinyl when I get it and slide it into a nice new anti-static record sleeve. It doesn’t take very long to do and I don’t even see the point of playing it before cleaning it, that way my stylus gets an easier time of it and will hopefully last longer.

There are many sources of new vinyl which is fantastic and most of it is on heavy virgin vinyl, not reconstituted lumps with added grit! Nothing gets my juices going like finding some good vinyl at a market, garage sale etc. Remember to abide by the vinyl code “We do not tell the general public the true worth of vinyl”. If we did the second hand prices would rocket and I for one would shed a tear.

I personally believe in vinyl wall insulation, I have been trying to persuade my better half that the more walls I line with vinyl the better insulated the room will become, I also added that it may have sound absorbing characteristics which would reduce ambient noise outside of the listening room. I thought the green energy saving argument might have had a chance before she glared at the Class A heat radiating power amplifier in front of her and I had to admit defeat.

When asked just how much money I have spent on vinyl, I lie like a trooper, my wife knows that I lie as I am not very good at it, but it’s a mistress she can accept, after all I spend time courting it, grooming it, showing it a good time before finally being pleasured by it, and damn there is nothing better than a cheap date!

It may come as no surprise that I find vinyl to have better sound quality than the current crop of Digital Sources. I am not putting digital down as I have spent a significant amount of money on CD playback myself, at the end of the day its all about the music. There are some albums you cannot get on vinyl and others you cannot get on CD, so if you want to listen to the music you just have to leave your prejudice at the door and listen to the available format and enjoy the music on the best equipment that you can afford.