Back in the vinyl days, I had a chance to hear a copy of the band FM recorded on a direct to disc LP. Big WOW! I think it was from Mobile fidelity sound labs from Memphis, Tenn. Those discs cost around fifteen bucks back in the seventies and were well worth it. I ended up with a bunch of them and when some of those came out on CD, the sound was not the same. The music was recorded to a master disc, not tape. As I sold off all my stereo equipment as my four kids hit school, I'm stuck now with what's on my computer but, my records are still in my attic. Maybe I'll start spending some money on a new system and not so much on camera stuff...

That is an excellent point. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that so many listeners seem satisfied with the compressed DR and lost octave at each end of the spectrum of MP3s (or perhaps that’s all they have ever heard).

When I listened to LPs, I used lots of signal processing - a DBX 3BX expander (set at 1.2x expansion) to increase DR and a Carver “Sonic Hologram Generator”,which essentially increases channel separation and widens the sound stage. No more. I don’t even use a preamp - just a passive remote controlled step attenuator between the CD (or SACD) player and the power amps.

For what it’s worth, one of the measured differences between the solid state amps I characterized and the tube amps was the distribution of the harmonic distortion. The tube amps tended to have more even order distortion products while the solid state amps tended to more odd order distortion. I theorized (although I am not a musician by any means) that the ear/ brain accustomed to western music tends to find even order (octave) harmonics more pleasing. You can find the same phenomena in LPs vs CDs. A few years ago, a major audiophile publication tested multiple CD players. Interestingly, the ones with the poorest square wave response were preferred by the listeners. Since a square wave in the frequency domain consists of every odd harmonic of the equivalent frequency of the rise time, you would expect that the best defined square waves with the fastest Tr should produce more odd order harmonics. The same is true of tube amps - poorer square wave response compared to solid state (more rounded “corners”) results in fewer odd order harmonics. There are other differences as well, but since styli in LP groves have a very difficult time with abrupt physical changes (square waves and fast transients/rise times) due to physical inertia, perhaps the “softer” transition and attendant lower odd order distortion is more pleasing.

The best musical instrument amps have tube circuits in them to take advantage of the variable third order harmonic distortion. Transistor amps and digital circuits are clean... until they aren’t. Waveform clipping occurs at full saturation and it’s very harsh.

Many top engineers and recording artists still use classic tube preamps for vocals, along with tube-and-optical compressors and “leveling amplifiers.”

Also, there are numerous digital plug-ins for recording programs on computers. Many plugins emulate all the old recording gear from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s!

I didn't read all of the link provided but I'm assuming the subject of proper care for vinyl never came up. I grew up with vinyl, both long playing (331/3) and the 45's, and no one I knew ever bothered to keep their records in their paper jackets. Of course, this created deep scratches that would cause the records to sound icky or "skip". I tried to take care of mine and keep them in their paper sleeves that they were sold with. I still have some in excellent condition. I was lucky enough to have a great stereo to play them on with access to bass and treble settings that allowed for excellent sound. You had to have a very good quality diamond needle for the best sound. Miss those days. Actually, it is the 60's music that I miss the most.