Vinyl vs Digital?

[Deleted member 15865]

Howmuchever we try and be objective, our perception does get clouded by both habit and nostalgia, even by strong impressions introjected from peers, reviewers etc. And since we aren’t static beings, this itself keeps changing/evolving over time and exposure. Therefore, never say never.

 

[arj]

Moved all discussions on Music here. as it was OT .- https://www.hifivision.com/threads/discussion-on-rock-albums.84318/

 

[drkrack]

This Topic "Vinyl vs Digital" is beaten to death in most of the audio forums including this one. There's a Clear Winner depending upon which parameter you choose to give importance. These discussions mostly end in "Flame Wars" among audiophiles where neither group honestly try to acknowledge Strengths of opposition and weaknesses of their own Formats.

By the way, I'm ready with Popcorn, Where's the Sony Fanboy & Measurement Bhakts??
Bring it on

 

[firearm12]

When digital was introduced, majority of people were astonished with the clarity and resolution of cd sound and never wanted to see the face of analog again. Now a days the same people feel vinyl was better. Its just a circle of life, everything comes back.

 

[DB1989]

To my mind, the solution is very simple. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Rather, both have their own charm. This is where objectivity vs subjectivity kicks in. If one can't decide and for most people even otherwise, its best to have both, something that was confirmed by the listening tests (not very scientific) where most people (except me cuz i came from a predominantly analog background during my formative years) coming from a digital background seemed to prefer vinyl and picked it as their clear winner. As of now for me specifically, digital is the clear winner, not because of the sound (even though i prefer digital, I'd say that can never be a parameter because even if i like my bamboo shoot pork, i don't like it every day) but more so because of the convenience involved. I am an incredibly lazy person and i simply don't see myself getting up change records, much less change the RPM speed on the Rega. Seriously, even my cheap briefcase LP player has a switch for that function!!!

 

[chander]

bamboo shoot pork

That definitely is great! No argument there!

 

[DB1989]

That definitely is great! No argument there!

We'd have some serious problems if there was. That is one thing I'd fanatically defend (EDIT: case in point, i did not rest till my GF developed a taste for it). A very distant second is a REL

 

[chander]

We'd have some serious problems if there was. That is one thing I'd fanatically defend. A very distant second is a REL

I am defending nothing, some fermented bamboo shoot naga pork with a little raja mircha pickle and the black rice, and there could be a fire in my apartment, I will let it all go and panic only after my food is over.

 

[nosortf]

Individual album mastering apart, regularly vinyl seems to beat CDs. But commercial CDs are nothing but a fraction of what digital can actually achieve.
If you take the best direct cut vinyl vs CD burnt straight from the studio's 2 track digital master hard drive(not a commercial CD with compression), then digital will thrash vinyl in every aspect of music playback. Unfortunately such CDs are not released commercially. My point being digital is superior as a format if commercials are left out.

 

[firearm12]

Digital is highly transparent unless audio is processed. Try recording your own voice or some instrument using good quality mic on a computer. You will be amazed by quality. This is actually double edged sword weapon because as soon sound is processed, digital will highlight it right away. Vinyl on the other hand needs signal to be changed in order to be recorded. More than that it puts its own flavor of sound on top of the actual music. Its easy to suppress bad recordings in vinyl. Not so much in digital, where it needs more attention, effort and carefulness to record sound that is melodic and soft.

 

[arj]

Individual album mastering apart, regularly vinyl seems to beat CDs. But commercial CDs are nothing but a fraction of what digital can actually achieve.
If you take the best direct cut vinyl vs CD burnt straight from the studio's 2 track digital master hard drive(not a commercial CD with compression), then digital will thrash vinyl in every aspect of music playback. Unfortunately such CDs are not released commercially. My point being digital is superior as a format if commercials are left out.

Great post and can also be related back to the earlier posts around content being more important.

Would love to see a technically equally done Vinyl and cd.

Even in modern releases what I have understood is some of the Vinyl is better mastered than the Digital since the market segments are different ie digital is consumed by everyone but those with Vinyl usually have a better rig and are more discerning. Not so say that digital folks are not discerning in fact there may be more of those in absolute numbers but in %age terms they could be very low hence music is made more compressed for the greater crowd and their bundled earphones or mass market music players

But then there are some really bad vinyls as well eg Lamhe ..the new vinyl is like playing a 128 mp3 in comparison with the older vinyl ( for all you know might have been mastered from one !)

 

[nosortf]

The boundaries of digital music playback is being pushed forward to such an extent, that when immersive sound is launched on a large scale, home audio enthusiasts will be left stunned clueless about what to do next. Audiophiles will have to relearn a lot IMHO.
Imagine hearing high rez on 96 tracks of object based immersive mix played back on an immersive array of 48 speakers assisted with 16 strategically placed subwoofers, all time and room calibrated to perfection. Can you fathom listening to THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY on such a setup??

 

[Lizard King]

The boundaries of digital music playback is being pushed forward to such an extent, that when immersive sound is launched on a large scale, home audio enthusiasts will be left stunned clueless about what to do next. Audiophiles will have to relearn a lot IMHO.
Imagine hearing high rez on 96 tracks of object based immersive mix played back on an immersive array of 48 speakers assisted with 16 strategically placed subwoofers, all time and room calibrated to perfection. Can you fathom listening to THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY on such a setup??

Ah well.
Depends on what is a listener's expectation/ reference.
For someone who benchmarks his or her music experience as standing in the crowd of fans and listening to a rock concert or sitting in a concert hall in front of two dozens of classical musicians belting out Stravinsky or Mahler, such technology adds minimal impact.
End of the day, most technical advancements become self serving, far exceeding the needs of its users and losing the emotional connection in the process.
All audio gears in the last many years have the capability to enthrall human needs, but the companies need to churn out new products to keep the profits rolling. Hence set up new standards that push the boundaries of human hearing perception or needs.
I am not an antideluvian. If anything, my life and craft depends on creating and being on the cutting edge. Which is why I am skeptical of "specs and features" and value experience above numbers. Numbers lay down the basic framework. Everything beyond it is barely captured in numbers.
To each his own I guess.

 

[nosortf]

I am a lot less experienced and may have been carried away by the numbers game like you say.
Obviously it seems that you speak from a position of having experienced object based immersive audio at its best, and have made an informed comparison having visited many classical music performances including Stravinsky and Mahler in concert halls. I would be keenly interested to know what format of object based immersive audio did you experience, the music you heard and what was the loudspeaker layout? Would appreciate your indepth inputs. Thanks in advance.

 

[mjo]

Just for my clarification - are you guys considering the construction noise from adjacent plot, or road traffic sound also in while comparing?

You don't listen to the music, you feel the music. It's not just hearing, it's the complete experience that matter. When I play vinyl, taking it out from the sleeve, cleaning it and watching the record rotate while hearing the music is part of the experience. Like wow is this big sound really coming out because of this black disk rotating there, it must be magic!

By the way, saying ok google play xyz and getting that song blasting out from speakers immediately is also nowhere less magical.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Assuming you have good Analogue and good Digital Setup and both are equivalent
1. If your LP recording is better the Vinyl will be superior (most cases for Older music)
2. If your digital recording is better the Digital will be better ( mostly for newer music)
3. if you know for a fact that both recording are exactly the same then the one where there is a better synergy of components will be better but that breaks the initial assumption.
4. You like and enjoy both, please continue to enjoy both and dont debate

Ill take the 4th.

Thats about the end of most debates that have happened and what people have agreed to agree/Disagree. if there is anything New which has come in this area am sure everyone would be interested to hear about this

Disagree

 

[arj]

Disagree

so you prefer the Digital ?

 

[nosortf]

Tidal has already started Atmos Music streaming. It would be very interesting to see how the future unfolds wrt digital audio playback.

 

[DB1989]

Tidal has already started Atmos Music streaming. It would be very interesting to see how the future unfolds wrt digital audio playback.

Awesome! Thanks for pointing out. Their video streaming is fantastic as well
Unlike youtube, their songs actually sound like their 320 kbps mp3 counterparts.
case in point, check out the live performance of “kashmir” by led zep.

 

[nosortf]

Awesome! Thanks for pointing out. Their video streaming is fantastic as well
Unlike youtube, their songs actually sound like their 320 kbps mp3 counterparts.
case in point, check out the live performance of “kashmir” by led zep.

Have you tried their HiRez streaming?? It's quite good, not as good as CD but still very good.