Why do records sound better ?

Not making a judgement or trying to start an argument but thought this was an interesting article

Hi-Fi: Why Do Records Sound Better? | The Ivory Tower | Part-Time Audiophile

 

They do to some people.

 

It’s subjective.

 

If CD's weren't so compressed this thread might not exist.

 

Analog signal - analog studio recording, & analog mastering.

 

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they dont.

 

Mild distortion that translates into a warm and pleasant sound to human ears.

 

Only if the master is good - the other benefits don't register with a digital kid outside of, oh, surface noise

 

Of a certain era, mid range emphasized

 

Just like I said in the other thread trying to push this same stale argument, the guy who wrote it, bases his position on two things that happen in pressing the record, having nothing whatsoever to do with vinyl superiority: yet another artifact of cutting the disc, and yet another "tweak" that tricks the brain into thinking it's part of what makes vinyl "better". Neither are present in making a CD, because there's no cutting. What he doesn't say is, a savvy engineer with the awareness of these two things, could just as well introduce these same effects in mastering a CD, and it would do the same job, "fooling" the brain into hearing a quality to the music that wasn't there at first.

And, he also stipulates that yes, CD's can sound much better than most of them do. Primarily to the bad reputation earlier equipment had on early comparisons of digital-to-vinyl. And of course, the bad mastering practices of the labels trying to squash everything for earbuds. He simply skirts the conclusion one can easily draw from his own piece, that his lacquer-pressing tweaks could do the same for CD mastering, and admits the other noises present in vinyl play, are indeed an issue CD does not have.

Practically everything one blames on the CD medium is actually a fault of the mastering, not the medium. It's just too complex an issue to communicate it succinctly to people who want to blame digital advances for everything that happened since they were put off by the slogan, "perfect sound forever".

 

Bad choice of titles on my part I guess.

I was more curious to get some comments on the article where the author comment on mastering practices and how recording and laquer cutting hardware impacts the final sound.

 

Easily the biggest issue with vinyl - it has the possibility to sound better than any other format - though it also has so many other issues outside of mastering that doesn't affect other lossless means, where mastering and cutting become way less problematic.

 

Didn't notice the other thread on this article so gorts please feel free to delete or merge

 

Back in 00 young ppl said mp3 sounds best.

 

I don’t think that was ever a widely held position.

 

This thread comes up monthly lol

 

Because they have appealing album art!

Thanks for posting...nice article!

 

Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. But does that mean that digitally recorded music will sound better on digital playback systems?

I also heard that vinyl captures the entire sound wave without degradation. Is this true? What about the very high quality CDs some talk about here (which I know nothing about)? Would someone really be able to hear the difference between these two media?

 

Given how much we're seeing bands like Linkin Park be an influence on new music these days (I'm 27 so I've lived through it, except I never liked it), maybe in 20+ years in the future maybe we'll see bands trying to emulate horrible mastering practices and super loud compression in an attempt to indulge in nostalgia?

I will admit to liking how low bitrate mp3s sound, they have a certain thrashy appeal. I know I'm in the wrong!

 

Do they?
Vinyl records sound different than digital playback, but that's as far as I'm willing to go speaking in generalisations.

Why do some 45s sound better when played on a 1968 Seeburg LS-2 juke box compared with some $3,5OO home audio systems ?

It's really all about specifics.

 

(sorry for the cut, just replying to this comment) - the writer actually did touch on that a bit. He's "added stereo tape hiss in very low levels to digital mixes" after mentioning how these things are psycho-acoustic cues in our brain.

I'm sure there are ways to do this on a larger scale, with redbook or hi-res digital, if one wanted to. If I can enjoy a vinyl rip imagine if it was like that + removing all the bad things that vinyl playback introduces. Like IGD.

 

Because they don’t.

 

A pointless discussion.

 

Two words, wood glue.

 

Same reason why watching films in celluloid/nitrate is always preferable to digital: there is a warmth and depth in analog that cannot be replicated through digital means