My turntable has bells and whistles that get rid of cracks and pops,it plugs into my computer for editing before it plays or records the Album.
MOST of my albums SINCE 1975 or so were recorded on a decent reel to reel.
A LOT of my albums were -OVER THE YEARS,only played,maybe 5-7 times,MAX.
I Think a NEW Album has something special in sound quality!
I guess it PROBABLY depends on your sound system.AND your actual hearing,NOT stats about why a recording in whatever is better because...
A persons ears tell them what they like...
My like is NEW a NEW ALBUM.
I like my big speakers that push more air too.
My best system was a 4 channel system in the mid to late 70's.
4 Pre amps,4 power amps amd a 4 channel sorter.
Needed to upgrade my Turntables head to be cool...
I guess it would be surround sound now.
I have that now because I don't have room for my speakers anymore where I now live.
Small speakers are just OK.
I miss my stuff I lost to theives.
I am not into online downloads,my albums sound better,AND the stuff I like BEST isn't around anymore from the same albums I listen too.
Most are on reproduced,heavily edited downloads.
I don't own a cell phone and will never have an I Pod run my life.
I'm turning 61 in a few weeks.
My hearing and eye sight sucks.
BUT I still LOVE my Albums best!
Reel to Reel has served me VERY well for MANY years.
Some of the stuff I had before computers were glued to every ones fingers,was state of the art.
I think people get downloads because of the so called quality of them,as advertised...
One thing is,nobody takes into account is the reality of nobody hears the same.
Having the possible best tech means nothing IF your hearing can't deal with it.
Stats mean nothing if your ears are not the same as what ANY sound source caters to.
Boils down to,Whatever I HEAR -THAT PLEASES ME OR OTHERS means nothing except to the listener.
POPS and cracks I take care of-to my hearing abilities,when I re record my 30 yr. old albums(when needed).
These days with all the peoples car systems putting out base I can hear from blocks away,I'm surprised that any of those people hear better than I do after a while of that.
You could only hear our 8 tracks and cassettes a few hundred feet away and our base didn't rattle your windows. LOL
I burned my ears out going to concerts,at shooting ranges(with earplugs I pulled out and some idiot fired off his last round off ,AFTER the horn,as I was walking to the car to go home) and working construction etc. didn't help either.
Just my point of view,worth EXACTLY what I got paid for it. LOL
OH NO! Another LONG post!