300 records, 250 SACDs and over 1,000 CDs

People who watch my vinyl films sometimes assume I am a vinyl purist. Count my shelves first. Over 300 standard 33 rpm records, but also over 250 SACDs, over 1,000 CDs and over 100 DSD albums I paid for.

The vinyl side runs deeper than one number: over 30 records at 45 rpm, over 100 heavyweight 180 g and 200 g pressings, over 30 one-step pressings. That is not a casual shelf. But the digital side is bigger, and I bought every disc of it too.

I keep both because they ask different things of me. A record has to be the right pressing on a revealing system before it earns its place, and when it does, it is the more believable of the two. Vinyl is complicated and hit or miss, while digital makes everything easy.

A purist chooses one format and defends it. I would rather choose per album: the record when the pressing earns it, the SACD or the stream when it does not. Over 1,000 CDs is not a confession; it is a strategy.

Ask me which format is better and I will ask which pressing. What is your trade-off?