These purists wonder if digital files can really give you that analog sound of our youth.
Sound quality vinyl vs digital.
Sonically vinyl has both strengths.
There s another far superior reason why vinyl is better than lossy digital formats.
Even the standard redbook cd 44khz 16 bit resolution has about a 26db advantage to vinyl with respect to dynamic range and at least a 40 50 db advantage in stereo separation as well as unmeasurable wow and flutter.
In some ways it s the audio equivalent of driving a ford pilot.
The problem here is that it had a tremendous result on the audio quality.
Original sound is analog by definition.
And when cds first.
Maybe it was coincidence but vinyl began its resurgence at around the same time as recordings started this trend.
It wasn t long before vinyl recordings of the same content often had better sound quality at normal listening volumes simply because they had higher dynamic range.
Sound quality depends on a lot of factors and it is impossible to definitively state that either analog or digital is fundamentally better.
Playing audio files is gigantically more convenient than playing an lp digital converter technology is getting better every year and high resolution files are clearer than the best lps.
Take a look at the graph below.
The quality of a digital reproduction is dictated by how many of those samples of the original are made.
Digital got its act together but not until the death of the cd.
Cds have a better signal to noise ratio i e.
The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.
These days many records are made using playback of a.
Lots of audiophiles say that when it comes to sound quality nothing beats vinyl.
There is less interference from hissing turntable rumble etc better stereo channel separation and have no variation in playback speed.
Cd quality sits somewhere in the middle with 44 100 samples per second at 16 bit accuracy.
Vinyl for the most part avoided the loudness war with the rise of digital music cds included it s possible to make a track sound louder than it naturally should.
A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings.
The vinyl lp is a format based on technology that hasn t evolved much over the last six decades.
