CD vs. Vinyl

[Nockm]

I'm interested in the comparison of sound quality between the two formats. Which do you think sounds better, and why? Most importantly I'm interested in the actual physical reason for the difference in sound, good or bad.

At first I just listened to CDs mostly and wrote off vinyl due to it being non-digital. When I did listen to vinyl it was on a crappy player + even crappier speakers. However after listening to some vinyl on a decent player and speakers, quite often I've found the sound to be much BETTER than CD. Some sound effects sound absolutely real, things in general can sound more 'real'. I was listening to some Boards of Canada album and it was unbelieveably so much better than the CD, I was hearing so much more in-between detail.

There's a whole bunch of half-baked theories in my head about why it sounds different, but the puzzle to me is why some things sound better in vinyl (to me).


Edit: If I was a sound archivist, I'd prefer digital anyday still.

[ZeUs!!]

There's the nostalgia aspect - The White Stripes recorded Elephant using analog equipment from the 1960's only. The same reasoning applies when listening to vinyls

[Mythrandir]

I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that the audiophile prefers vinyl over CD as well.

The limit of digital storage on CD is that it has a limited sampling frequency (44.1 kHz) and quantisation (16 bits per channel).
On vinyl those numbers can, and are, be much higher, as the limits are determined by the material itself rather than some artificial limit.

However, consider listening to a super audio cd (SACD), which has 96k sampling frequency and 24 bit recording, and you'll notice how much better it sounds than a regular cd.

[Underground]

Vinyl sound is a lot better than CD. The only bad thing is that its a lot bigger and harder to support. Depends on your objective. As a DJ, I prefer Vinyl :grin:

[Ephemeral]

If it sounds good, it IS good, regardless of medium.

[Jeansi]

Vinyls sound awesome until you've played them 100 times and all you hear are scratches.

We had that Sony casette system from the 80's that had far better sound quality than modern cd:s (don't need much for that do we...) but they haven't made new tapes for them as long as I've lived.

[PandoraX]

Vinyls sound awesome until you've played them 100 times and all you hear are scratches.

We had that Sony casette system from the 80's that had far better sound quality than modern cd:s (don't need much for that do we...) but they haven't made new tapes for them as long as I've lived.

A hundred times? Huh, my records all work fine. Long live the Grand Funk Railroad!

I even have an 8-track system. Ahh, memories.

[Ephemeral]

Vinyls sound awesome until you've played them 100 times and all you hear are scratches.

Handle your vinyl properly.
Always try to play a vinyl record from start to finish and avoid lifting or placing the needle down in mid-track.
Try to never play a vinyl track twice in a row. The first pass of the needle can physically push the vinyl groove wider. Plopping the needle into the already widened groove again, before it has had time to ‘rebound’, can cause the needle to begin to cut into the areas that contain the sound recording.
Store your vinyl properly, keep them in an environmentally neutral place (no hot or cold extremes).

[Facetious]

theres a lot of stuff that sounds better on vinyl, apparently not just stuff created during the age of vinyl

i know when i bought slint's spiderlands cd, there was a sticker on it that said something like "do not buy this cd, please buy the vinyl version, we cannot vouch for the sound quality of this cd" or something or other

[Fit of Rage]

The Beatles on Vinyl sound better than CD

[PhaTz]

basically what mythrandir said sum'd it up. but outside tha terms of science, it means your sound is more in depth and dynamic, because the recreated sound wave is closer to an original wave.

most(practically all) professionals record their music on a 2-inch tape(24 track, analog) rather than doing it digitally, which sounds better than both vinyls and CDs, only problem is nobody would want to buy music that is 3lbs

about sacd's, unfortunately, dvds came out

however, tha way we listen to music will all change when all(some are already doing it, such as bruce springsteen) commerical music are master'd in surround sound(5.1+) instead just Stereo(2.1)

note that dolby's 10.2 will be ready soon $

[Material Girl]

I like vinyl =]

however, tha way we listen to music will all change when all(some are already doing it, such as bruce springsteen) commerical music are master'd in surround sound(5.1+) instead just Stereo(2.1)

Hmm.. interesting.

[Roggan]

Used to listen to Cat in the Hat stories as a kid on our very old record player. Other than that cant say i have listend to anything but cassettes/CDs.


Would have never guessed that vynal could play any better than CDs, interesting.

[Pressure Drop]

think someone else alrady said it

analog > digital

It depends on your hi-fi system at all levels and your needle and the vinyl. But if all is good then vinyl will be much better than cd as what your here is the actual sound wave rather than it broken down into estimates of peaks and troughs (think nice smooth curve rather than a square block)

my crude example
(partial ripped of net and partialy done in paint and i know i fucked up the block wave i just dont care to fix it better)


where cd wins is
2) human ear degrades with age/usage (load noises fuck you over)
1) vinyl degrades with every play (the friction between needle and groove cuases groove to be eroded/damaged)
3) when your young you like shit loud music and wouldn't appreciate vinyl
4)cd is smaller and easier to produce (i think)
5)you don't get many vinly writers in your pc
6)cds make cool rainbow colours
7)cd is easier to say


where vinly wins
1) better peak sound quality
2) bigger album covers (allows more creativity)
3)old school
4)that pearl jam song 'spin the black circle' makes more sense
5)you get to call them lp's which is cooler that cd's as cd's is closer to std's which no one likes
6)harder to lose
7)cuase more damage if "frisbied" at an enemy/zomie (see Sean/Shaun/Shawn {which ever spelling of it they used}of the dead)
8)if your really drunk and really don't like the lp you can play it with a knife if you stick your ear near it (when your drunk it does seem impressive)

so in my very scientific test vinyl wins by an 8/7 margin

[PandoraX]

It's also easier to backmask. Or at least I think so. There's some trippy stuff out there.......seriously.