Brehs, can y'all explain to me why a Vinyl Record is supposed to better than a Audio CD?

[satam55]

I've always heard that Vinyl Records are better than a Audio CDs.....


But that doesn't make sense to me. How are Vinyl Records an Analog format supposed to be better than Audio CDs a Digital format?







I'm trying to download a FLAC version of Justin Timberlake's last album and I'm noticing that the FLAC files that were ripped from a Vinyl copy are all range from 91-180 MB compared to FLAC files from CDs are like 20-30 MB.

 

[NZA]

CDs are actually better from a technological standpoint but some purists prefer the distortion and noise that vinyl adds.

that does not mean that every CD was published the best it can be. some companies put out poorly mastered trash for the mainstream format, and then a smaller division of the same record company that really cares about music will be in charge of making a vinyl version for hip hop DJs and that smaller group will make sure it sounds right. under these circumstances, it is the record company's fault and not the format for why the vinyl ended up sounding better.

 

[Camile.Bidan]

Analog supposedly captures more of the frequency spectrum, and CDs, because they are digitized, have alias in their sound, which gives the music a metallic note. I don't know if that is true or not.

I have heard records on a lower priced 5k+ analog sound system, and it was really amazing. I don't know how much of a difference much 100k+ systems make. But from my experience, there is a warmer and fuller sound. Live recordings sound like they are right in front.

however, if the record wasn't recorded before digital recording systems became the norm (50s to the 80s). Then it's virtually pointless to listen to records vs MP3s. If the source recording isn't analog, it's not going to make a difference.

That means all hip-hop vinyls are useless because one 1) hip-hop was almost from its inception made with digital equipment (samplers and late 80s early 90s digital synths) 2) the vast majority of hip-hop was made after the digital revolution in audio recording.

If you listen to a record that was pressed in the 70s on a nice analog system, you will hear a difference. It may not be worth 10k however.

You could make counter argument and say that I am just hearing a difference between HOW music was recorded then vs today (including remasters). nuance is almost always destroyed now in favor of very harsh multiband compression (thanks to the impact of hip hop and dance).

 

[BaldingSoHard]

I've always heard that Vinyl Records are better than a Audio CDs.....


But that doesn't make sense to me. How are Vinyl Records an Analog format supposed to be better than Audio CDs a Digital format?

Basically, what it is is that music (or sound in general) are just waves. Waves are naturally analog... continuous. So a vinyl recording is an exact replica of that analog wave. When you digitize a wave, you're basically approximating it's amplitude for each discrete value of t (which with vinyl is also continuous). The more samples you take, the closer you get to the quality of the analog wave, but you'd have to have a ridiculous sample rate to rival analog.

 

[Why-Fi]

better is relative, the fact is some people just like the sound of vinyl more. its warmer and a lot more forgiving.
a lot of the digital recordings today employ some type of analog emulation because its just a more pleasing sound

 

[FaTaL]

 

[Notorious 1 E.Y.E.]

because its not compressed

you lose some of the audio when its converted to digital
just like with cds and mp3s

 

[daze23]

basically analog is like a wave, while digital is like steps in the shape of a wave. the sample rate of the digital recording determines the size of those 'steps'. the higher the sample rate, the smaller the steps are, and it more closely resembles the analog wave

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Uncompressed audio vs compressed

You get a more full, detailed sound with uncompressed analog audio.

When you run something digitally it goes through through a digital audio converter which loses audio quality in the process. Almost all audio today is done digitally so to the untrained ear, there might not be much of a noticeable difference at first listen. After you hear a few uncompressed analog tracks and go back to digital the difference stands out more.

 

[Mass]

In order to digitize the original recording, we sample it around 40,000 times a second, according to scientist, anything above that would be imperceptible to the human ear anyway

But there are analog purists who stress that they can hear a difference and I actually agree
The thing is hip hop at this point is basically digital. Nobody is going into the booth and playing out all those 808s abd basslines on actual instruments. And then rhyming over it with a perfect mic and just leaving it at that and walking out.

That's just the way it is...

 

[daze23]

Uncompressed audio vs compressed

You get a more full, detailed sound with uncompressed analog audio.

When you run something digitally it goes through through a digital audio converter which loses audio quality in the process. Almost all audio today is done digitally so to the untrained ear, there might not be much of a noticeable difference at first listen. After you hear a few uncompressed analog tracks and go back to digital the difference stands out more.

"uncompressed audio" usually refers to digital audio on CD, .wav files, etc., as opposed to lossy compressed formats like .mp3

it's still limited by it's sample rate and bit depth

 

[Tom Foolery]

Vinyl is a copy of an analog signal. Audio is nothing more than air pressure hitting your eardrums (ex. a speaker doesn't play music, it just pushes/vibrates the air around in a way your eardrums recognize). Depending on the quality of the recording equipment, it will be the closest to an actual live sound because it's recording pressure.

CD/digital converts analog signals to binary (0's and 1's) and there has to be a trade-off somewhere between file size and sound quality. I guess in theory you could make a digital conversion equal to vinyl but the file would be ridiculously huge. This is were the trade-off becomes difficult, especially when you have limit space like on CD's.

There is a bit more to it but this is the argument in a nutshell.