safulop
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
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OK, I admit I love vinyl, although I do recognize the technical superiority of digital audio. Are there rational reasons to persist with vinyl playback? I believe so.
A big reason that has been discussed before is that many albums on vinyl are created from better sounding masters. Most often the biggest difference is that the vinyl masters are much less compressed than the same album on digital formats (CD, online files etc.).
Here I've included two figures which compare the recent pop hit "Red" from the Taylor Swift album of the same name. The long-term average spectrum shown in the first figure demonstrates that the Vinyl master, spectrally speaking, is generally EQ'd similarly to the CD. There is a visible difference where the vinyl has slightly less intensity overall above 5 kHz, but there are no large differences of frequency boosts or cuts.
The second figure shows the left and right channel signals for the entire song. The CD version is on top. You can see how maximally compressed it is compared to the vinyl version. It does not sound as good as the vinyl for this reason. This kind of compression is hard on the ears and brings listener fatigue, in my experience. The vinyl record of this album is the only way for a music fan to get these songs in their less compressed and better-sounding versions.
Well, that's pretty objective. But another rational reason to love vinyl playback is the sheer miracle of it. Remember that old saw about how a bunch of monkeys typing forever would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare? To my mind, going to the trouble of playing a vinyl record in an excellent-sounding way is a bit like watching Macbeth emerge from a zoo full of monkeys. I mean sure, anyone can throw on a CD and get "perfect" sound (keep in mind the above demonstration) easily, but where's the fun in that?
A big reason that has been discussed before is that many albums on vinyl are created from better sounding masters. Most often the biggest difference is that the vinyl masters are much less compressed than the same album on digital formats (CD, online files etc.).
Here I've included two figures which compare the recent pop hit "Red" from the Taylor Swift album of the same name. The long-term average spectrum shown in the first figure demonstrates that the Vinyl master, spectrally speaking, is generally EQ'd similarly to the CD. There is a visible difference where the vinyl has slightly less intensity overall above 5 kHz, but there are no large differences of frequency boosts or cuts.
The second figure shows the left and right channel signals for the entire song. The CD version is on top. You can see how maximally compressed it is compared to the vinyl version. It does not sound as good as the vinyl for this reason. This kind of compression is hard on the ears and brings listener fatigue, in my experience. The vinyl record of this album is the only way for a music fan to get these songs in their less compressed and better-sounding versions.
Well, that's pretty objective. But another rational reason to love vinyl playback is the sheer miracle of it. Remember that old saw about how a bunch of monkeys typing forever would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare? To my mind, going to the trouble of playing a vinyl record in an excellent-sounding way is a bit like watching Macbeth emerge from a zoo full of monkeys. I mean sure, anyone can throw on a CD and get "perfect" sound (keep in mind the above demonstration) easily, but where's the fun in that?