Does vinyl sounds better than cd or not?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Does one hand clap in mono?

Here's their take on copying vinyl to CD and comparing the results. Must have a re-read for myself, as I've forgotten what they say.

The practical results are interesting, the suggestions as to the whys and wherefores are in a mental space from which many, in ten years, have moved on.

Bottom line is, as I have suggested, whatever the differences between the commercial releases on different media, make CDs from LPs, and people will not be able to tell the difference. And yes, before stock objection number one crops up, I have tried it. :licklips:

Leaving out the stuff about sampling rates, etc, the difference, where there is one, between commercially-produced CDs and LPs, and maybe even SACD too, is in the mastering and production, not in either the physical medium or in the analogue/digital encoding.

Doesn't mean that anyone will stop enjoying their LPs and turntables. Doesn't mean they should, either. Playing vinyl remains a whole different experience.

One curious historical thing about the Matrix CD/SACD/LP test is that there is no mention or use of computers. We would not think of doing such a test these days any other way. Certainly, in 2003, they could have used PCs with high-quality sound cards (I had one then ) but they were using CD recording machines, something that I don't suppose any of us ever even think about, ten years later.

 

[greenhorn]

Why CDs May Actually Sound Better Than Vinyl - Los Angeles | Los Angeles News and Events | LA Weekly
A very balanced take on the subject. I think it covers all points, except maybe DAC deficiencies (oversampling, jitter etc)

 

[plasmoid]

If I had a chance to replace all my cds with vinyl versions I would do so in a heartbeat.

 

[musicbee]

If I had a chance to replace all my cds with vinyl versions I would do so in a heartbeat.

And I would all of my past girlfriends with Bar Refaeli. That however does not make blondes with blue eyes better than Indian women and neither does that make vinyls better than CDs.

 

[thampi]

the problem is records gets damaged after several use.then we hear scratch noise above the music.cd can be used for several years in its original condition.

 

[Fantastic]

I'm not sure I mentioned this before. A long time ago I recorded a vinyl album on to CD and played it back. All the equipment used was of very good quality.
The played back recording on CD sounded just like the vinyl playback ! That does tell you how good the CD format is. It's sound depends on what you put on it !
There is one other benefit of putting it on CD and playing back. There is some more reduction in LF and rumble signals and there is no LF acoustic feedback that many people try to solve by using very expensive isolators of dubious quality !

One must also remember that there are poor sounding vinyl albums also...just like CD !
I'd say, if you don't have old vinyl albums , don't get into vinyl now ! The playback system is harder to maintain and IS more expensive . Must be very expensive per minute of music played compared to a good CD based system.

I also wondered about another market. Marketing guys would love it if it was possible ! Plugable laser heads for disc players. You can use the standard one which comes with the player or buy an after market ' VERY high quality laser head ' at 100 times the cost of the player itself. Have you seen prices of good phono cartridges lately ? I bought an AT 440ML for $60 a couple of years ago . Today it is some $250 or so ! You get plenty of cartridges at over a $1,000/- ! So does it sound better than the AT 440ML ? They all generally sound slightly different from each other. The best one is the one you can afford ! Don't forget that every 500 hours or slightly more, you need to replace the stylus which can cost almost 70 % of a new cartridge ! When did you last change the laser on your CD player .....apart from an unfortunate failure , for most people ..never !

Better to have a decent CD ( digital) setup and 'splurge' on the music.
I'd say 30 % on system, 70% on music !

I must add that with so much progress in materials and equipment and reduction of prices in general, you can easily have a system with 10 % in equipment and 90 % in music.
For example a small classD ( 50+50 watts ) with a bookshelf at less than 20Kand a disc player under 10K you can have a very good music system. That's under 40K for the system. Much better than what you could get for that money 10 years ago ! For the budget minded or easy going guy this could be squeezed to under 30 K for the whole system !

 

[reignofchaos]

I'm not sure I mentioned this before. A long time ago I recorded a vinyl album on to CD and played it back. All the equipment used was of very good quality.
The played back recording on CD sounded just like the vinyl playback ! That does tell you how good the CD format is. It's sound depends on what you put on it !
There is one other benefit of putting it on CD and playing back. There is some more reduction in LF and rumble signals and there is no LF acoustic feedback that many people try to solve by using very expensive isolators of dubious quality !

One must also remember that there are poor sounding vinyl albums also...just like CD !
I'd say, if you don't have old vinyl albums , don't get into vinyl now ! The playback system is harder to maintain and IS more expensive . Must be very expensive per minute of music played compared to a good CD based system.

I also wondered about another market. Marketing guys would love it if it was possible ! Plugable laser heads for disc players. You can use the standard one which comes with the player or buy an after market ' VERY high quality laser head ' at 100 times the cost of the player itself. Have you seen prices of good phono cartridges lately ? I bought an AT 440ML for $60 a couple of years ago . Today it is some $250 or so ! You get plenty of cartridges at over a $1,000/- ! So does it sound better than the AT 440ML ? They all generally sound slightly different from each other. The best one is the one you can afford ! Don't forget that every 500 hours or slightly more, you need to replace the stylus which can cost almost 70 % of a new cartridge ! When did you last change the laser on your CD player .....apart from an unfortunate failure , for most people ..never !

Better to have a decent CD ( digital) setup and 'splurge' on the music.
I'd say 30 % on system, 70% on music !

Simple question mate - what was the system in question? What turntable, what cartridge, what phono stage, what cd player, what was used for recording (software and hardware), what was the amp & speaker? Unless you answer these, your comment is no more valuable than the ones above.

 

[Fantastic]

Simple question mate - what was the system in question? What turntable, what cartridge, what phono stage, what cd player, what was used for recording (software and hardware), what was the amp & speaker? Unless you answer these, your comment is no more valuable than the ones above.

It's been a while.
But the turntable was a Technics 1200 series with Shure V15-III , The CD player was a Marantz CD-17 , the phono preamp was a tube phono with passive eq . and the software was Wavelab I think. I can't remember what version. Could have been Cool Edit also. Both were good. The amp was a Creek 5350 with JBL speakers . There were several good sound cards lying around. I think we used the Juli@ card. Unfortunately that's dead now due to an accident ! There were several friends who also listened to the results. Some single malt must also have been around !

 

[jls001]

And I would all of my past girlfriends with Bar Refaeli

Please form orderly queue behind me

 

[alpha1]

Does chilli chicken taste better than butter chicken?
What an idiotic question!

Better and worse can only be determined if there is something measurable in hand.

###

Is chilli chicken spicier than butter chicken?
Yes.

 

[plasmoid]

And I would all of my past girlfriends with Bar Refaeli. That however does not make blondes with blue eyes better than Indian women and neither does that make vinyls better than CDs.

Never said anything about one being better than the other...its a matter of personal preference.

 

[Hiten]

Master Yoda says...
"seeks not everyone, the 'perfect' beauty of Bar Refaeli.
Alluring for some may be is, rustic charms of village belle."
Regards.