Why Vinyl Records Sound Better

Why vinyl sounds better than cd or not according to rolling stone magazine sales of vinyl albums continue to grow setting a new record in 2010.

Why vinyl records sound better.

About 2 percent in 2014. Ask them why and they all say the sound comes first and i agree. Take a look at the graph below. The dynamics and quieter moments are not lost in the compression process.

Vinyl can still push music to the limits of its dynamic range 55 70db but it often shies away from doing so in order to maintain sound quality. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. Music sounds better played on a good turntable than it does from files or cds. And of course records have that undeniable nostalgia that so aptly captures either childhood memories or just a simpler or arguably better time in music history.

Sales of vinyl records have been soaring although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry s revenues. Records aren t exactly known for their portability for example. Vinyl is one of the best ways to listen to music. There s very little compression so the loudest parts of those sounds often.

The problem here is that it had a tremendous result on the audio quality. There s another far superior reason why vinyl is better than lossy digital formats. To many the superior sound quality and physical collection are enough to justify the investment. However that s not to say there aren t advantages to digital music.

Vinyl for the most part avoided the loudness war with the rise of digital music cds included it s possible to make a track sound louder than it naturally should. If a song is recorded on tape its conversion to vinyl better preserves the original sound of the song. The artwork the lyrics and personal interaction are all reasons that this once dead format has catapulted back into the mainstream consciousness but when asked most people would respond that the biggest reason they love vinyl is the sound. Before weighing vinyl s ahem good and bad sides it helps to know how records are made.

Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output. Is the sound on vinyl records better than on cds or dvds. A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings. Does vinyl reproduce sound better or is it just.

That s why snare drums cymbal splashes and other loud instruments have so much more punch in vinyl recordings. Best turntables under 300.