Katy Perry album help

The Hits Man wrote: Jody Thornton wrote: [QUOTE=aaronk] You bought it on vinyl? How's the sound? I have been thinking of getting several current releases on vinyl, but I really haven't heard much difference between it and the CD. Besides, I really hate off-center pressings!

Yes off-centre pressings are a nuisance, but luckily they happen a LOT less on LPs than they ever did on 45s. That was one reason I prefered small-hole 45-rpm discs (ala Virgin and WEA promos). I did get one off-centre LP in 2003 when I bought Coldplay's "Rush of Blood to the Head". It was very audible on "Clocks", and that's not something you want when you pay fifty bucks for an LP - trust me, I'm not rich. But I have since obtained another copy.

LPs from the last fifteen to twenty years have usually been very good. In many cases, LPs are released as double-LPs, with usually only three songs a side. That may sound inconvenient, but you get two real benefits: (a) grooves can be distanced farther apart, akin to 12" singles, and thus you get dynamics that are much more CD-like. And (b), you can place the modulated grooves in the first 2/3 of the side and avoid that end-of-side tracking error that plagues all but the best cartridges.

My hi-fi currently has a Dual 502 (circa 1976) with a Grado Black on it. I am surprised at how open this cart is. Very little sibilance, a wide soundstage, but warm and textured at the same time. CDs to me sound very brittle.

Sure, there are scant pops and clicks, but for the most part the sound is quite "tangible". If the CD fans on this forum gave LPs another try with a good setup, they would be all filing away those shiny discs so they could take on their rightful place as dust collectors (I know that sounds like I'm a bitter analog fan, but think of what most people would have mockingly said to me in the 90s for sticking with my turntable, right?). But really, LPs can sound that astounding.

I am saddened by the sudden lack of 12" singles over the last two years. And R&B LPs are getting harder to come by. I understand that DJs were what kept that market alive, so now with "MP3 Turntables" being useed in the clubs, the need for 12" singles have dwindled. And those were the only means of coming by radio mixes on vinyl in many cases.

I have a Music Hall 5 TT with an AT150mlx cart, so I have a
decent vinyl set-up. I like the cart because the 45s I
play on it sounds excellent, and there is no inner-groove
distortion whatsoever.

Yes, I don't ever hear any wow or flutter, except as you note from off-center pressings. And yes, it's the MK2.