I think it’s a combination of the oft spoken ‘ritualization’ that goes along with listening to the medium, along with the fact that modern digital (ie streaming) renditions are inferior. To my ears, a well mastered CD sounds much better than both vinyl and mass streaming, though.
I think there’s also a collecting otaku aspect to it, and among the most hardcore evangelists, a psychological need to justify the amount of money they’ve spent on $30 180 gram reissues and the gear to play them.
I suspect there’s also something going on that’s a value-based reaction to the availability of ‘everything’ on Spotify, etc. I haven’t quite figured it out, but I bet it’s related to vintage computer/console buffs preferring ‘real hardware’ to emulation. If you have to pay more and work harder for something, it’s worth more, even if the cheaper, more easily accessible version is identical (or even superior) to that thing.
I think there’s also a collecting otaku aspect to it, and among the most hardcore evangelists, a psychological need to justify the amount of money they’ve spent on $30 180 gram reissues and the gear to play them.
I suspect there’s also something going on that’s a value-based reaction to the availability of ‘everything’ on Spotify, etc. I haven’t quite figured it out, but I bet it’s related to vintage computer/console buffs preferring ‘real hardware’ to emulation. If you have to pay more and work harder for something, it’s worth more, even if the cheaper, more easily accessible version is identical (or even superior) to that thing.