Non-black vinyl: Do they sound inferior?

[Bol]

I've noticed that there are some vinyl that come in colors other than black. Do these colors by any chance detract from the sound quality?

[jostber]

Some more info from the audio gurus here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-103196.html

[Big Beat Steve]

I cannot comment on 50s colored vinyl (Fantasy etc.) but I have quite a few 70s/80s LPs on colored vinyl and for the most part I cannot really hear any noticeable sound differences that can be traced directly to the COLOR. In some cases I even have black AND colored copies of the same disc and IIRC they all are the same soundwise. But my turntable is certainly not "high end" but rather a decent "medium end". And quite a few of those colored 12ins are reissues of 30s/40s jazz so it certainly is not the color that is decisive about reproduction fidelity.

So things may be different on high-end equipment or on releases that are more current productions and not reissues where other factors (remastering? if any ...) weigh in too.

[Tom in RI]

One piece of colored vinyl that I and most of my friends had at one time or another was Dave Mason's Alone Together. Of course at that point in my life the tt would often have a dime taped to it. I think the most cogent point made at the link above is that it is a lot harder to grade an lp visually when the vinyl is other than black.

[porcy62]

I think the most cogent point made at the link above is that it is a lot harder to grade an lp visually when the vinyl is other than black.

Exactly, almost impossible.

I got some red vinyl from indie's italian bands, late 70s early 80s, and they sound...'indie'.

[sidewinder]

The blue vinyl 'Kind Of Blue' sounds OK..

[clifford_thornton]

I think the most cogent point made at the link above is that it is a lot harder to grade an lp visually when the vinyl is other than black.

Exactly, almost impossible.

Clear vinyl is extremely annoying in that regard. Luckily the few I have are at least EX.

[Teasing the Korean]

Supposedly, black was chosen as the vinyl color standard because it hid imperfections better than other colors.

AFAIK, there is no difference with solid colored vinyl of different colors.

Multi-colored picture discs are another story, though, and do not sound as good.

[Harold_Z]

IIRC clear vinyl HAD to be pure. Any impurities would be visible. i.e sometimes records were melted down and the vinyl reused. There might be paper from labls, etc, mixed in. So actually clear vinyl was a plus. At least if you were buying new.

[Chuck Nessa]

IIRC clear vinyl HAD to be pure. Any impurities would be visible. i.e sometimes records were melted down and the vinyl reused. There might be paper from labls, etc, mixed in. So actually clear vinyl was a plus. At least if you were buying new.

Actually, when vinyl records were recycled by pressing plants, they used presses to shove the label area out of the disc before grinding up the discs. We used to joke about Crown using the "label punch" for their records.

[clifford_thornton]

[thelbc]

I've noticed that there are some vinyl that come in colors other than black. Do these colors by any chance detract from the sound quality?

What titles are you whining about??? Be specific!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not rocket science..........play 'em and figure it out for your bad self...JF!!

Other than that ask thaT "NESSA FELLOW" he knows it all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited March 9, 2010 by TheLBC

[Shawn]

I just got a 2LP set that has one 1 red vinyl album and 1 black vinyl album, really can't tell any difference at all between the two.

[Bol]

Thanks folks. I just ordered a blue & clear set of the following:

http://taigarecords.blogspot.com/2010/01/map-fever-dream-2xlp-available-january.html

I don't have a turntable yet, and am not sure when I will. But I wanted to buy this release as it is a limited release of 1000, and I really like the group's previous CDR release.

[thelbc]

I have no idea why that NESSA fellow is not busting your balls....LMAO

You do not own a turntable and you post this????????????

I own 10,000 LP's and 6/7 turntables...and never thought to ask this question....

because I owned a TT and could figure it out myself....

Do you even own a record??? Or is this your first?

Someone delete this idiotic thread!!!! PLEASE!!!!

Edited March 10, 2010 by TheLBC

[B. Clugston]

Thanks folks. I just ordered a blue & clear set of the following:

http://taigarecords.blogspot.com/2010/01/map-fever-dream-2xlp-available-january.html

I don't have a turntable yet, and am not sure when I will. But I wanted to buy this release as it is a limited release of 1000, and I really like the group's previous CDR release.

Taiga puts out great-sounding records--one of the better vinyl labels out there. I got the multicoloured version of the MAP--it sounds superb, as is the music.

[clifford_thornton]

What is your deal, LBC?

[jazzbo]

No shit. Crabby as Clem Chauncy.

Edited March 10, 2010 by jazzbo

[Hoppy T. Frog]

No shit. Crabby as Clem Chauncy.

Without the wit or good looks.

[clifford_thornton]

Or knowledge.

[K1969]

Read this here

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue46/blue_note.htm

"The box is Classic's latest attempt to produce a ne plus ultra pressing of a famous recording from vinyl's golden age. Not only is the original single LP spread over four single-sided discs, it is pressed on Classic's proprietary "Clarity Vinyl," a see-through, slate-grey vinyl that eschews the black pigment—aka "carbon black"—that has been a part of the vinyl formula since the very beginning of the LP era, when it was employed to make vinyl records look as much as possible like the shellac discs that they replaced. Classic believes that by leaving the carbon black out of the mix, the LPs do not become magnetized, since vinyl is not by itself a magnetic material. (The fact that magnetically charged records sound tight and constricted is widely, if not unanimously, acknowledged among audiophiles, and I will return to this subject later in this review.)"

This seams to go against what they said in this thread here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-103196.html

"Vinyl is clear. There is however, an agent in the black vinyl that makes it smoother and quieter. Colored vinyl (other than black) can be noisier because it doesn't have this agent in it. In my experience, vinyl without this "agent" added does scratch more easily. (I'd heard it called "carbon black" before.) It seems the colored vinyl is softer, in other words. I've had minor "mishaps" over the past 25 or so years where my black vinyl wouldn't be harmed, where the colored easily picked up a small tick from it. The colored vinyl, too, seems to be worn a lot more than the black vinyl pressings I've seen. Groove damage seems to be more apparent on the non-black."

Personally I still think black is beautiful

[Chuck Nessa]

The best of all possible worlds is a clear vinyl pressing with a green magic marker ring on the edge.

[Harold_Z]

The best of all possible worlds is a clear vinyl pressing with a green magic marker ring on the edge.

[porcy62]

The best of all possible worlds is a clear vinyl pressing with a green magic marker ring on the edge.

As Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz stated in his fundamental work:

Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain (New Essays on Human Understanding), 1704.

wiki

Nothing new under the sun.

[DrJ]

I have very few non-black vinyl pressings. Most of the ones I have sound no different than the black vinyl records I have.

I do have a nice set of Japanese Beatles mono LP pressings from the 1980s. These pressed on a translucent red colored Aurex vinyl and I have to say the surfaces are among the quietest in my collection. Probably has nothing to do with the color, though, just high quality vinyl in general. I do have to say these LPs are just plain beautiful to look at too.

Edited March 16, 2010 by DrJ