I had a conversation with some friends about name brand and generic items a while ago. We discussed the products that we felt mattered to spend the extra money to get, what we perceived to be, necessarily better quality. These items included toilet paper, cotton swabs for the ear, and beer.
Some people, myself included, feel that vinyl is a superior medium for listening to music. But, unlike some, I am completely aware that this is nothing more than a perceived notion that doesn't really make it true. There are so many qualifiers that play into what you ear besides the actual item being played that it's hard to tell what factor is making one sound better than the other-if anything at all.
A crappy turntable is unlikely to sound better than a quality CD player. A CD and a record played on the same high quality system are even likely to have factors that will make them sound different. The quality of the record and the CD, the volume and tone levels will factor into what a person hears. This is all nitpicking, but I bring it up to acknowledge that I am aware that comparisons aren't always apples to apples.
However, I can say, in all honesty, that Starflyer 59's "Americana" sounds amazing on vinyl. I recently overpaid for a copy on eBay to fill in a gap of my collection and was floored by how good it sounded. It was much fuller and warm sounding than I had ever heard it and I don't even have a respectable sound system. Holy cow.
The only downside is that it came with a lyrics sheet, something that the CD did not, and now I know for sure that every last song is sad and hits very close to home. Six albums later, Jason Martin wrote a song with the line "Hey, man, did you write that for me? It sounds like it." which I took as something he was constantly asked by obnoxious fanboys. Now that I know what the words are on "Americana", I'm in the same boat as the fanboy.
"Please, say what you mean. You've got time for everyone but me. Don't tell me after how I feel"
And that's the whole song.
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