Compare your cd playback to vinyl and post here. Please participate!

Lemmings; all so eager.

 

Any further comparisons of cd vs lp, sound clips, graphs, or charts posted without revealing your source components are considered off topic and are not welcome in this thread. Please read the original post. Thank you.

 

I can't begin to guess. When our host did his CD version of "Hotel California", he used the same monitors the music was mixed on.

 

Do you recall what they were ?
Im amazed that the variety of monitors produces sort of consistent results
Westlakes/URIEs sound so very different from domestics

 

I think by the time the Greatest Hits was released, the band had hired Bill Szymczyk as their producer. I am wondering how the Glyn John's work sounds on the original releases, ie: The Eagles and Desperato? And I wonder if Johns mastered any of these early LPs? I have some of these albums buried in storage, and need to dig them out.

The Eagles original country-rock sound is more flowing style, so nuance and articulation of the guitar strings are essential, but become oversized when strummed in your face. The Jensen remaster CD almost straddles that line. My first impression was positive, and so the acoustic drive almost distracts from the vocals and other instrumentation in the mix. It is what it is, just an emphasis as preferred by Jensen. Still I like the treatment, a different way of listening to a familiar song.

If offered a choice, the vinyl is going on the turntable. Best of my Love was especially beautiful. For example the song begins on the lofty acoustic guitar intro, a 12 string over 6 string, (C to Fmaj7) then comes in the steel slide, bass and hi hat/brushes that transport this song to a higher level. Best of my Love is not driven as much by the acoustic guitars in themselves as "Take it Easy", "Tequila Sunrise", and "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and can not stand alone with the same effect and feeling as the other three. Certainly "Best of my Love" can be performed (unplugged) by acoustic guitar alone, however it is the bass line that elevates it to its glorious beauty, and by the contribution on steel slide. The LP presentation of "Best of my Love" surpassed the CD re-master by a mile, its harmonious blending of instruments and vocals as a whole that evoked emotion as the CD did not. Again the upper air of the LP compliments the vocals, not needed is more articulation of the guitar strumming, nor delineation of instruments, since harmonic cohesiveness is the strength of this song.

I certainly would enjoy listening to the session tapes, or just the master tapes in their various experimental forms.
Steve VK

 

The final vocal chorus features a C to Fmaj7 (or Dm) on the acoustic guitars, however the vocal harmonies are building a Cmaj7, essentially in itself a beautiful chord. As the vocal harmonies are sung as a Cmaj7 (ie oh oh oh oooh sweet darlin') over the acoustic guitars and bass hitting a straight C, dissonance is set up. This dissonance is the essential beauty that makes in large part, "Best of my Love" the endearing song that it is. It's not just the strumming, nor the lyrics, not just the lyrical meaning of the words, it is the dissonance that grabs you, every time! All instruments, bass line and vocals build the dissonance. If one or the other becomes too emphasized, the dissonance breaks down, thus we lose the beauty! The original mix on the LP captures all of it!
...

 

You can change cartridges till the cows come home but you'll never match the uncluttered sound of a quality transport and DAC thats setup right.
There's just some area's where digital bests vinyl.

 

If it's DSD it's a primitive , early realization of delta-sigma encoding. The original is from the late 1970's. Mind you, I own that LP and have owned the CD of that recording, SACD as well. Why the LP should sound best, I don't know. But there is something decidedly odd about the presentation of hall ambience in all versions.

 

I dont think Glyn ever mastered anything he was so busy in that period
Bill had very high regard for Glyn and eventually took the Eagles and the Who from Johns.....
Glyns Eagles have space aound them,Bills are denser with a higher track count
Glyn was reknown for his wonderful ambiences

 

And people could argue this till the cows come home too.

 

Multitracking everything was the way things went in the 70s.

The main reason the band went with Bill Szymczyk is because they wanted a rock sound, and Glyn Johns was pushing them into country. The band liked country, but by 1975, they wanted to be a solid rock band. Szymczyk came with Joe Walsh, whom they also got to add a harder rock sound.

FWIW, I like that dense, layered sound.

 

Ok, I was incorrect! Soundstream is/was not DSD.



Format 16/50 - But it sounds good!

 

I have a number of early Soundstream recordings converted to DSD on the dmp label, and they really show how good Stockham's digital recorder worked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundstream

As an aside, it's refreshing to see on that picture of the back of the album the correct terminology - 50,000 samples per second - rather than 50kHz.

 

Very similar , same overall clarity but vinyl has that extra openess . Cd player Denon 1510 , TT Gyrodec , Tecnoarm, 2m Red

 

1 Which is brighter? LP or CD? CD mostly.

2 Which seems to have more fullness/bass/low end energy? LP or CD? LP mostly.

3 What cartridge are you using? Supex 900

4 What is your turntable/tonearm? Linn Sondek LP12/Grace

5 What cd player do you have? Arcam Alpha 7SE

6 Which title(s) did you use for the experiment? Jimi Hendrix = Are You Experienced

In my answers 1 and 2 when I say mostly, I'm talking in general but in playing the Hendrix album, the LP really blows the CD away. I can't think of a similair result for CD over vinyl in my collection but one that comes close is Captain Beefheart's The Spotlight Kid on the two on one CD with Clear Spot.

 

Joe Jackson's "One More Time" from "Look Sharp!" CD on top, LP on bottom. The CD is an early A&M pressing, can't remember any details about the LP which is now in storage, but believe it is within a few years of the original release date. The LP sounds a little less "crunchy" than the CD and the LP has a 3db or so "bump" in the 8-14.5K range while the CD is a pretty linear taper up to 20K. To my ear, this album has a lot of high-end across the board and is very dry which the CD accentuates a little more.

BTW, why do many older CDs stop abruptly at 20K, while newer remasters & my own needledrops recorded at 44.1K have data all the way up to 22K? Is it a result of the matering/A-D equipment that was being used at the time? Just curious...

 

Okay- second try at adding picture to post...

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3861/14673880337_d816472bd5_s.jpg

 

Lots of variables but for what it's worth i play vinyl 98% of the time these days. Hi res digital 1.8% and cd .2%

well tempered amadeus, grado ref sonata hi output through Hagerman Cornet 2 with amperex nos tubes.

Digital is pioneer elite dv79 and i have a Bryston dac 1

 

CD is the benchmark for my vinyl playback. Ideally, the LP should be just as bright and not have more bass. I have a few mid-eighties titles, that likely use the same digital master, which I use for comparison.

 

I agree on mid-late 80's stuff, most of mine sounds near identical, except what maybe the cart/pre adds or takes away

 

CD is brighter

Vinyl

Audio Technica AT95E

The factory one in my Sony PS-X5

50-disc Sony CD changer (not sure of the model), I get similar sound in my dad's 300-disc player

Alice Cooper B$B and Greatest Hits, and Rolling Stones Exile On Main St... I own original vinyl of all three. B$B was the Audio Fidelity SACD, Greatest Hits is just the CD that's out (I think it's the original 1990 CD), and Exile was the Virgin CD.

I would still say I like listening to CD's more because there is no surface noise. If a record was dead quiet, then sure it sounds better because the mastering is better every time I compare a record and the same album on a CD.

I also like that I can turn a CD up loud and really get it making my speakers bump. Vinyl doesn't really seem to get that loud. Perhaps my preamp just isn't powerful enough (I have a Pyle Pro PP444).

 

Sorry, I'm not playing to the extent the jazz cop wants but all in all, after all these years (since the 60's), I prefer CD's. Across the board, all else being equal, I get more listening pleasure with CD's. I know that doesn't fit the LP's are king mindset of many audio fans but that's been my experience. A lousy recording is a lousy recording but a great recording on CD sounds better to me on my equipment than a great LP.

FWIW, I play records often and own three turntables. But I play records when that's the only version of the album I have. I'd rather listen to Bill Evans on my CD's than LP's.

 

What crap.

 

I don't have a record player in my current US system, but I would have to agree. I was just watching a video review of the Magico S5 by Myles Astor at AVS Showrooms, and was struck when he said he only listens to analogue - LPs and tapes. If digital was so vastly superior why would a well credentialed reviewer be all-analogue?

 

I wouldn't judge everything based on one reviewer as we all have different preferences.

As stated above, I feel digital is superior in SOME areas, just as analog is superior in others. For anyone, including a reviewer to say one is better than the other in every way would just not be correct.

I DO have a very nice turntable ( see my profile ) as well as a great DAC/transport and like both very much but in different ways.