General Forum

Re: CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Eugene — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:56:48 GMT

The Beatles original CD sets issued back in 87 were as good as any of there vinyl. i still have them and the vinyl too.

I have some more recently released CD's of Francoise Hardys early vougue label reocording that I have been able to compare to the 4 Corners and Peters vinyl pressings. Not even a close match. You would think they were completely different recordings.

I guess it coes down to the sound engineering. I like both vinyl and CD about the same

Re: CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Alex — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:40:58 GMT

From a technical point of view, CD is streets ahead of vinyl in almost every aspect, especially when played back on a good DAC.

Re: CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Puncher — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:57:21 GMT

Vifa:

Hi,

I read this article yesterday: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm and the graph got my attention. I have both vinyls and CDs, but I have always prefered vinyls (but not in the meaning that I disliked CDs). Theoretically, vinyl should be the best. So to test it myself I found a vinyl with Miles Davis which I also had on CD. Changing back and fourth many times between the two while playing, and listen very carefully I came to the conclusion that I find the CD to be a little bit harsh in comparision to the vinyl, where the vinyl is more.. well, warm. That could probably be expected.

But I must admit my ears are not good enough to hear that big a difference.

What do other people prefer ? Any thoughts on 'vinyls vs CDs', and what do you think sounds best ?

Any experiences ?

Note:

(The record was a brand new 180g vinyl, and I used my Beogram 9500 with a new shibata pickup.)

The digital signals above are not what is presented to the amplifier/speakers. The signal is then filtered to recover/reproduce the original signal waveform. It may look worse, but it is not neccessarily so!

This discussion is one for the evangelists - I believe the red book standard CD is well capable of surpassing the capabilities of a vinyl storage medium. As Alex says, a lot of what you hear isn't the medium but the standard of engineering/mastering of the actual recording.

Re: CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Alex — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:33:48 GMT

Very often, the differences people are hearing between vinyl and CD are more to do with the way the recording has been mastered (separate masters on CD and vinyl, so effectively two different recordings).

I don't like to draw conclusions over which is better sonically. Vinyl can sound amazing, but can also sound horrific if pressed badly, or played back improperly. CD can sound better in some ways, worse in others, and is also at the mercy of the quality of the mastering/recording!

I enjoy vinyl for the 'event' of putting on a record - nothing comes close to it. Unfortunately my Rega tonearm is knackered at the moment, and I can't currently afford to replace it with the tonearm I want, so at the moment I'm listening off Technics 1210s (the same ones I use for DJing - which are okay but nothing special sonically).

Re: CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Carolpa — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:33:32 GMT

the RAW 10 kHz signal is NO vinyl signal! This is wrong interpreted. It is a theoretical sinus compared to digital signals after encoding en decoding this original signal. But there is no measured analog VINYL signal compared!

And you know what they do with the recently new remastered vinyl. First the old original analog tape is transfered to the digital domain. From these cleaned digital master a new vinyl master is cut. So the final product can never be beter than the specifications of the steps in between!

In general I prefer DVDA - SACD- BR (DTS HD MA or DD TrueHD)

CD vs. Vinyl - what do you prefer ?

Vifa — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:00:43 GMT

Hi,

I read this article yesterday: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm and the graph got my attention. I have both vinyls and CDs, but I have always prefered vinyls (but not in the meaning that I disliked CDs). Theoretically, vinyl should be the best. So to test it myself I found a vinyl with Miles Davis which I also had on CD. Changing back and fourth many times between the two while playing, and listen very carefully I came to the conclusion that I find the CD to be a little bit harsh in comparision to the vinyl, where the vinyl is more.. well, warm. That could probably be expected.

But I must admit my ears are not good enough to hear that big a difference.

What do other people prefer ? Any thoughts on 'vinyls vs CDs', and what do you think sounds best ?

Any experiences ?

Note:

(The record was a brand new 180g vinyl, and I used my Beogram 9500 with a new shibata pickup.)