Sound Quality Vinyl Vs Digital

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.

Sound quality vinyl vs digital.

The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. The quality of a digital reproduction is dictated by how many of those samples of the original are made. Cds have a better signal to noise ratio i e. Original sound is analog by definition.

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. Take a look at the graph below. These days many records are made using playback of a. It is why mp3 with relatively few samples is so poor and hi res audio with far more is the closest we have to a studio recording.

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. By every measure digital audio is superior to analog. Maybe it was coincidence but vinyl began its resurgence at around the same time as recordings started this trend.

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. Digital got its act together but not until the death of the cd. And when cds first. Sound quality from a technical standpoint digital cd audio quality is clearly superior to vinyl.

Sound quality depends on a lot of factors and it is impossible to definitively state that either analog or digital is fundamentally better. 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. Sonically vinyl has both strengths. 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. In some ways it s the audio equivalent of driving a ford pilot. There s another far superior reason why vinyl is better than lossy digital formats.