Thought I'd share my thoughts on a comparison I just did. I've recently improved my secondary system listening area and have been doing some real critical listening again.

The album is Nazareth - Malice in Wonderland

In this corner: Original pressing 1980 A&M Records, mastered at A&M Recording Studies mastered by Bernie Grundman

In the other corner: 1990 Castle Communications (UK) "Castle Classic" CD from A&M Recording Studios master, mastered by Frank De Luna

I chose the song Fast Cars because of the awesome bass line, and tremendous vibes solo.

Many of you won't be surprised, but the width and depth of soundstage is immediately bigger on the vinyl. The vibes sound like they are surrounding you and it's very easy to visualize the soundstage. It sounds a bit muddier though, without the crisp cymbal and "brightness." Overall, it has a more balanced midrange and a much more realistic prescence but I must say, a touch of the cymbal clarity from the CD would make it about perfect.

The CD does a great job, but the soundstage is all right in front of you. The vibes sound very good, but they are contained and don't float around you. The crispness of the cymbals is very good, and not unnatural sounding but radically different from the vinyl. The CD seems to have more highs, and punchier bass but lacks midrange prescence and again, just seems to be all right in front of you.

I know this will not come as a major revelation to many of you, but it really helped me to experience it now that I've been back from the digital dead for a bit and have rediscovered my vintage roots.

Cheers :music:


edit: corrected the album title :bash:

alrighty then :dunno:

Thanks Mitsuman! I have that Nazareth Lp.

Simply put, vinyl RULES!! Also you can work your highs in if you have a good equalizer. I was quite surprised when looking in the "Turntable" section of this site at how much difference a "good" stylus can make. At least to the perfectionist. I was happy to find out that my latest Marantz record player had a "good" one.

Did you mean Nazareth / Malice In Wonderland ?

Try the 30th Anniversary Edition Re-mastered CD from the original master tapes by Robert M.Corich and Mike Brown, October 2001

Did you mean Nazareth / Malice In Wonderland ?

Try the 30th Anniversary Edition Re-mastered CD from the original master tapes by Robert M.Corich and Mike Brown, October 2001

Good catch, I would expect you to know. :smoke:

Just out of curiosity, what equipment were you using?

To categorically state that albums are better than CDs is a big IF. It depends on so many factors most importantly, the equipment you have and how well it's set up.

I have several CDs of albums that I own and I did an A/B comparision a while back on several and found the results inconclusive. On some the albums sounded slightly better and on others the CDs sounded much better. It depends on the album and the mastering, and the CD and its mastering.

There are simply tooooo many factors to make a direct comparision. I still listen to my albums and my CDs and I think both sound great when the music was mastered/mixed correctly.

Just out of curiosity, what equipment were you using?

This was done on my basement system (no TT in my main system :scratch2: )

Mitsubishi DA-C20 Tuner/Preamp, feeding the amplifier section of a Technics SA-700 receiver.
Mitsubishi MS-20 Studio Monitor speakers (monster cable wire)
Pioneer PL-7 TT with major deadening/isolation mods, glasmat, Grado Black cartridge
Denon DCM-280 CDP