Vinyl by Ken Micallef strikes me as a celebration.
If you spend any time online reading comments and conversations about hifi and vinyl, you might get the impression that celebrate is a four letter word. As if extolling the joys of listening to music on the hifi is incomplete until you also wallow in all of its imperfections. And there’s nothing that proponents of digital replay like to harp on more, over and over decade after decade, than analog’s imperfections. Which is like focusing on the cracks in a Caravaggio rather than the painting.
I believe I first met Vinyl author Ken Micallef back in 2005 (or so) at fellow reviewer Jules Coleman’s NYU pad in NYC when we all wrote for 6moons and I’ve enjoyed Ken’s company and writing ever since. As you more than likely know, Ken is a contributing writer over at Stereophile but he’s also written about hifi and music for many other publications over the years including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Downbeat, and Jazz Times.
Here’s one fun fact about Ken I’ve come to learn—you’ll never know how much Ken knows about hifi, music, jazz, or anything else because he’s not the kind of person who feels the need to do that. Boast. I appreciate and prefer this quality to its opposite, the kind of person who recites their CV before saying ‘hello’. Every time you see them.
That being said, I recommend frequenting Ken’s Jazz Vinyl Audiophile YouTube channel to get some tips (from the iceberg).
Vinyl is a lovely little hardcover book about records and their appreciation. Over the coarse of 128 pages, Ken covers the high notes of the history of records, record players, tonearms, and cartridges while also digging into set up tips, how to properly care for your records, and some “Holy Grail” LP picks in different genres. There’s also plenty of recommended gear and accessories in all price ranges as well as a fairly extensive list of places, actual and virtual, to learn about and buy records.
If you’re doing the math—128 pages ÷ all that—it’s safe to say we’re dealing with an overview written in Ken’s typical breezy and easy style that makes Vinyl a fun and entertaining read in addition to being informative—I certainly learned more than a few things.
Vinyl is also illustrated throughout with photos of classic ‘tables, some great old ads, record covers, and even some cool shots of cool listening spaces including Devon Turnbull of OJAS fame, Steve “The Audiophiliac” Guttenberg, the old pre-fire and fabulous Resolution A/V listening room, and the Monkeyhaus within Devore Fidelity.
Funny. I was talking to someone just the other day and admitted that when it comes to just looking and lusting my favorite hifi gear is record players. Turntables of all shapes, types, and styles. New and old. Part of my obsession is due to their mechanical nature as I love a good machine, especially one whose sole purpose is to connect us with our living history of recorded music that contains endless secrets and seductions.
From Vinyl:
Vinyl is a gateway to a deeper musical connection and a passionate global community. Every record you buy will become a tangible marker of a particular time and place in the world and in your life.
Amen to that. And seeing as I can’t seem to write about reading about records without including this quote, here it is again from Haruki Murakami’s South of the Border, West of the Sun:
And every time, this thought hit me: It wasn’t a record she was handling. It was a fragile soul inside a glass bottle.
If you enjoy records and the things that play ‘em, you’ll enjoy having Ken Micallef’s Vinyl around to have, hold, peruse, and read. After all, books—real books—are the analog to analog.
Vinyl by Ken Micallef, which is part of the Small Luxuries series from publisher Quarto, will ship on October 20, 2026 for the bargain price of $16.99. You can pre-order now from places where fine & fun books are sold.
Publisher’s Website: Quarto