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LPs versus CDs

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analog fan

analog fan

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I know vinyl is better because... it just is. But can anyone point me to a thread where people wax poetic about why? (Of course if you'd just like to yack about why, that'd be cool too.)
Since I've gotten back to vinyl after being away from it for 20 years, everyone is asking me why. Their big argument is "LPs wear out" and I shoot back "I'm after something more than permanence." How do you battle the permanence argument?
Plus I like finding LPs that never made it to CD, and most likely never will.
An extremely astute person here in Bakersfield said listening to a record, "is kind of like holding someone's hand without a glove."
 
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I find some albums sound better on CD and some sound better on LP. That's pretty much what I tell to people who argue about vinyl.
 
It's all about the mastering. CD has the ability to sound very good but most engineers master them for loudness.
 
LP's wear out?

hmm I guess with over 2000 of them the rate of rotation has made this idea hard to see.

OK so the answer must be if your worried about your vinyl wearing out you just don't have enough vinyl.........and of course a good TT setup.
 
when my friends argue that the cd's sound much better than the lp's, i just tell them that they're stupid.:thmbsp::D

actually, from my experience, i've had more lp's with terrible recording quality than i had with cd's, but 90% of my best sounding albums are in lp format. so, i guess quality of engineering/recording is more critical to final sound than what format the music is in, but the lp's have the edge under best given condition.
 
Good evening all, as a vinyl fanatic, although I concede that good CD playback can be stunning I think that good vinyl playback has a certain ambience unmatched by CD, and potentially better high frequency response, with CD having inherent limitations here due to the realities of the nyquist theorem and the highest audio frequency to be 'sampled'.

The newer higher sampling rate CD's and other digital playback systems should be better, however in the end, despite clicks, plops and other obvious problems I still regard good vinyl playback as closest to the real thing. Regards, catman.
 
analog fan said:
I know vinyl is better because... it just is. But can anyone point me to a thread where people wax poetic about why?
Click to expand...


We'll it isn't exactly poetic, but here's the best source I've come across to explain why so many of us prefer the sound of vinyl. Below is an excerpt from page seven of this article:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/features/technical-topics/vinyl-vs.-cd---a-running-commentary.html

"So, what can we say at this point? It seems to me - and this is with some of the very best hi-fi components in the world - that one of the most significant reasons vinyl aficionados love the LP sound is that the distortion is very, very much like that in Pure Class A triode single-ended tube amplifiers. There is a lot of distortion, but it is just about entirely second order (even-ordered), which is euphonic, meaning that it is pleasing to the ears. This distortion profile occurs in part because the noise floor masks the higher order harmonics. So, the listener hears primarily the second order harmonics, maybe a bit of third, fourth, and fifth, depending on settings, but the really nasty sounding high order harmonics are covered up by the noise floor. You will give up some low level detail that gets buried in all that noise, but the ultimate sound is very appealing. The high level of second order harmonic distortion "enriches" the sound. It is not "accuracy", and purists will say it is not "high fidelity", but it certainly feels good. What else can I say?"

For me, this information cuts through all the arguments about the inherent superiority of one format over the other. It explains in terms that are difficult to argue against exactly what the difference is with LPs. For me, it reveals the mystery.
 
Hi,

The rules are simple: Garbage in-Garbage out! The secret to good LP and CD releases is the master source quality and mastering. If any link in the chain is not up to spec, the result isn't there.
 
If you can convert your favorite LP's to CD's as I did, then you may have the best of both worlds. Have you ever tried listening to records in your car?
Tony
 
Yes! I was wanting to hear that from someone... that if your LPs are "wearing out" then you haven't set your tonearm weight correctly.
Mark W. said:
LP's wear out?

hmm I guess with over 2000 of them the rate of rotation has made this idea hard to see.

OK so the answer must be if your worried about your vinyl wearing out you just don't have enough vinyl.........and of course a good TT setup.
Click to expand...
 
Mark W. said:
LP's wear out?

hmm I guess with over 2000 of them the rate of rotation has made this idea hard to see.

OK so the answer must be if your worried about your vinyl wearing out you just don't have enough vinyl.........and of course a good TT setup.
Click to expand...

I seem to have more problems with CD's going to **** than I do with LP's, to be honest.
 
Not being much into vinyl, I'd have to think that any play causes wear since it's a physical contact between a hard diamond and a relatively soft material.

However, I do understand that good equipment which is properly set up will minimize the wear.
 
deadhorse.jpg
 
I prefer vinyl, sacd's, dvd-a over most cds.
It all depends on the mastering of the cd.
Some cds I have give me ear fatigue, while others I can listen to over and over with no problem.
 
I always liked Neil Young's analogy of listinging to a cd is like hearing music through a windowscreen. Something like that.
 
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