[kskwerl]

My question is when using IEMs would it be better to use a V0 rip over a flac vinyl rip? I ask this because I put some flac vinyl rips on my DX50 and you can hear all the crackling through my Westone 4r.

 

[soundstige]

The crackling is just the sound of the needle picking up scratches or other defects on the record surface. They become a permanent part of the music in vinyl rips and any codec will retain them unless it completely destroys all the rest of the musical information.
 
Vinyl rips are great for a warm feeling and high dynamic range, but they're nowhere near as clean as digital recordings because of issues inherent in their playback.

 

[kskwerl]

The crackling is just the sound of the needle picking up scratches or other defects on the record surface. They become a permanent part of the music in vinyl rips and any codec will retain them unless it completely destroys all the rest of the musical information.

Vinyl rips are great for a warm feeling and high dynamic range, but they're nowhere near as clean as digital recordings because of issues inherent in their playback.

thanks for that

 

[manbear]

IMO, digital flac rips sound better than vinyl. The crackling and background noise ruin it for me, and you have to realize that many flac rips were creating with cheap equipment that may be worse than the equipment you're using to play it back.

 

[kskwerl]

IMO, digital flac rips sound better than vinyl. The crackling and background noise ruin it for me, and you have to realize that many flac rips were creating with cheap equipment that may be worse than the equipment you're using to play it back.

Do you mean the actual program etc they ripped the CD with or are you referring to the recording of the CD in general?

 

[manbear]

Ah, I should have clarified that I was talking about vinyl -- the turntable, cartridge, and analog to digital converters that I see mentioned in the places where I download vinyl rips. It's usually cheapo stuff -- why would I want to listen to what all of that gear does to the sound? I'd take a slight reduction in dynamic range over background noise and iffy analog to digital conversion any day. 

I don't think the program used to rip a CD to FLAC matters much. It's all in the digital domain, so all the computer has to do is crunch the bits. Equipment quality matters more when you're converting between analog and digital. 

 

 

[kskwerl]

Ah, I should have clarified that I was talking about vinyl -- the turntable, cartridge, and analog to digital converters that I see mentioned in the places where I download vinyl rips. It's usually cheapo stuff -- why would I want to listen to what all of that gear does to the sound? I'd take a slight reduction in dynamic range over background noise and iffy analog to digital conversion any day. 


I don't think the program used to rip a CD to FLAC matters much. It's all in the digital domain, so all the computer has to do is crunch the bits. Equipment quality matters more when you're converting between analog and digital. 


 

ah I see now. yea I use waffles and what.CD and I'll usually go for the higher bitrate but then come to find its a vinyl rip

 

[manbear]

Indeed, it's hard to find 24/96 at such places without it being a vinyl rip. SACD rips seem pretty rare. 

 

[kskwerl]

just tried an experiment and its a perfect example.


I was listening to MGMT -Time to pretend 24/92 vinyl rip then I added a 16/44.1 and it sounds so much better

 

[manbear]

Exactly. I have the same situation with Visions by Grimes in my music library. The CD version just sounds cleaner, like a layer of crud from the vinyl rip got washed away. I often download both a vinyl copy and a CD copy of an album, and I don't think I've ever found the vinyl version to sound better. The only advantage I get from the vinyl copy is that it often sounds easier on the ears when turned up loud, because of more dynamic range.

 

[kova4a]

Overall, it's a matter of the quality of the CD. Sometimes it's really badly mastered and clipping and a vinyl rip with a bit of needle drop is still quite superior. Sometimes the vinyl is of bad quality and either has no improvement in dynamic range or just is a very low quality pressing and no amount of experience or high-end equipment will make it good. Of course, there are some spectacular vinyl rips that sound very clear and barely have any audible needle drop. I just have some preferences towards some rippers with good equipment and skills and I follow their releases, put them against the CD release and decide, which I like more.

 

[manbear]

IDK if this is kosher on this website, but what are some of these rippers?

Also, isn't it true that at least for genres like rock and electronica, a lot of vinyl releases are just the CD master put onto vinyl? 

 

[kova4a]

  IDK if this is kosher on this website, but what are some of these rippers?

Also, isn't it true that at least for genres like rock and electronica, a lot of vinyl releases are just the CD master put onto vinyl? 

Well, you have to follow the forums. I'm mainly listening to rock and metal and I follow the releases. There's no rule for the quality of the vinyl depending on the genre. Most of the times they have better dynamic range. It's like with hdtracks - sometimes the releases have the same even worse dynamic range than the CD and sometimes they are quite better. Also I've said before http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ is a good way to check the dynamic range of a lot of different releases and see, which has the better mastering. As far as the vinyl rips go, it's a bit hard to know if the needle drop will be bothersome or not without actually hearing the rip.

 

[StudioSound]

  Well, you have to follow the forums. I'm mainly listening to rock and metal and I follow the releases. There's no rule for the quality of the vinyl depending on the genre. Most of the times they have better dynamic range. It's like with hdtracks - sometimes the releases have the same even worse dynamic range than the CD and sometimes they are quite better. Also I've said before http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ is a good way to check the dynamic range of a lot of different releases and see, which has the better mastering. As far as the vinyl rips go, it's a bit hard to know if the needle drop will be bothersome or not without actually hearing the rip.

Keep in mind that vinyl rips are inaccurate for dynamic range analysis. They always measure higher, even when they come from the same master as the CD.
I find little to like about vinyl, as the distortions are really obvious to me.

 

[kova4a]

  Keep in mind that vinyl rips are inaccurate for dynamic range analysis. They always measure higher, even when they come from the same master as the CD.
I find little to like about vinyl, as the distortions are really obvious to me.

Nah, that's not true - they don't measure higher by default. And as I said before there are vinyl rips and vinyl rips. There are some very very good rips that just destroy their CD counterparts.