Why is my vinyl superior to my CD's?

I have a vintage Micro SEIKI DD40 turntable with an inexpensive Ortofon 2m Red cartridge and a NAD C538 CD player. Virtually all my vinyl sounds vastly superior to any CD I play with regards to soundstage. When I purchased my first CD player in the mid eighties I bought a Denon I don't recall the model was a middle of the road model not entry level nor top of the line but I remember being extremely impressed with how awesome I thought it sounded vs. my vinyl. With my new NAD C538 CD my impression is just meh, it's ok I guess but I'm not really impressed. Is it my NAD or was I just mistaken first time around that CD's were an improvement over vinyl.

 

This is not surprising when it looks to me that your record player cost many times that of your CD player (I mean rrp). I don’t have experience with either player but that would be my observation!

 

If my cd player could reproduce pops, clicks, skips, surface noise and sibilance maybe it would sound as good as vinyl.

 

I have no Idea, but I'd love to have that turntable, looks gorgeous!

 

Your NAD is decent, but there's a limit to its capability. I had a NAD CD player at one point, and although I was happy with it, it didn't take much to notice where it lacked. (Though I do think that their Masters Series does have something to offer.)

I always find that a good analog playback setup will be preferable to most basic CD sourced systems. But as always, YMMV.

 

Seems it's gotta be something in the digital to analog section of the process. Or the analog to digital part at the beginning. Likely some of both. in the final stage before going into our amps (analog), that is old hat, been doing it for years, and is no different than phono, so it's in the digital mess somewhere. It varies too, so a lot of the substandard sound comes in the source material (CD, file, etc)

Anyhow, I'd like to explore more on the digital front end but am afraid of a lot of expense and little gain. Anyone with me on this thought?

 

Perfect sound not forever?

 

because your CD player isn't that good. a good audiophile CD player will sound much better than yourl vinyl setup. you need to spend to get the required features- a very good internal DAC and robust analog section with high quality transformers and power supply. this gives you a smooth, refined and highly energetic sound.
the no longer available Marantz SA 8005 is such a player as are these-
cambridge audio 851c
denon 1600 ne
marantz nd 8006
musical fidelity m3scd
the cambridge unit is often discounted and sounds exceptional in every way.

 

There is a huge difference in the channel separation numbers of vinyl vs. cd. Even the cheapest cd players have better separation than the best cartridges. Is there an inverse relationship between channel separation and perceived soundstage? Maybe. But getting that number bigger seems to be one of the big goals when it comes to cartridge design.

Maybe your speaker placement was done using vinyl, and it doesn't work for the bigger channel separation that your cd player is putting out?

 

All I can tell you is I feel the same. This is debated over and over and various ideologies and methodologies are presented from both sides.

For me it was simple. I had a $15k dac setup at my house on lend and then my turntable.
The table was superior over and over again, it really wasn't even a question.
Of course this is subjective but it was enough for me to not bother with a digital source.
I recently heard my first SACD at a friends house that has a more pricey system with better acoustics than I do.
I couldn't hold back my laughter at how poor it sounded. My expectations were high, as in my mind SACD was top of the food chain for tangible media. We looked at each and just laughed and put the vinyl version on.
Pink Floyd Wish you Were Here was the album. I can't handled what I describe as sterility and a coldness.
I find that digital music is all separated in different tracks, it makes me think of my ProTools sessions.
I have three guitar tracks, 5 drums tracks, piano etc...They aren't blended into a piece of music but rather are functioning on their own.
I think what I like is the inherent distortion that to me brings the sound all together.

Again, this is all subjective and that's why there is something for everyone.
I like to use Spotify to find new and old music, but that is all and I do that on my iMac.
Just enjoy the vinyl.

 

Better mastering.

 

Are you listening to vintage records? If so, the mastering will most likely be different than what you have on your CD's. I tend to prefer my older records because of the wider soundstage on so many of them. I love my CD's as well, but it's a shame that so many of the more recent ones are victims of the loudness wars. Anyhoo, just spitballin' here.

 

Get a better CD player and listen to well mastered CDs

 

I can: Dust & Scratches • The Ultimate Vinyl Noise Machine

 

Lot's of factor's involved, but definitely a different sound. I love my vinyl and my CDs.

 

Does mastering affect soundstage?

 

If you invested in a good turntable, cartridge and pre-amp you would hear vinyl as it was intended to be heard...without all of those drawbacks, or at least greatly diminished.
It amazes me how many people write off the format because they hear it on less expensive equipment and just assume it’s the format that sucks and not the gear it’s being played on.
Oh well, more records for those of us that can understand how to get the best performance out of them!!

 

I agree with those who say that it looks like you have an exceptionally fine turntable and a good CD player. If you upgraded your CD player you might see the two become more equal. I prefer vinyl personally but I just can't afford to lay out the cash for a truly high-performance audio digital front end.

 

Listen to Santana’s Abraxas One Step and the SACD on an excellent digital playback system. dCS Vivaldi 2 or MSB Select DAC. The differences are not worth to talk about.

 

My TAD D-1000 CD/DAC/Pre now sees off my heavily tricked up Technics SL1200
plus I'm lazy so LPs hardly get a look in

 

Same experience here! They just present a different soundstage with vinyl being more alive, 'bigger' and more 'in your room' (I realize this will mean sh**t to most). Switching between both on a day to day basis is no problem. But sometimes I listen for weeks only to vinyl, and it's always a bit of a turn-off when I return to cd's. After a day or so I don't mind anymore...until I get back to vinyl after a few days/weeks.
I got a Dac that gets me closer to the analog feel than ever before but still, the difference remains. And no, this is not about 'mastering'.

 

OP is asking specifically about soundstage, not general sound.

 

Sterile is just how the mastering of that particular SACD of Wish You Were Here sounds, unfortunately no level of digital front end is going to change that, other than a digital component that is really colored. I really wanted to like the sound of that SACD.

But on vinyl you have so many incredible sounding versions of WYWH.

 

I can't really help you as I prefer vinyl at home and CD on the go, but your CD player is better than most Crosley's will ever be.