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Does Anyone Think CD is Better Than Vinyl/Analog?

I am curious to know if anyone thinks the CD format (and I suppose that could include digital altogether) sounds better than vinyl and other analog formats. Who here has gone really far down both paths and can make a valid comparison? So far, I have only gone very far down the CD path and I just keep getting blown away by what the medium is capable of! I haven’t hit a wall yet. It is extremely dependent on proper setup, synergy and source material. Once you start getting those things right, the equipment gets out of the way and it can sound more fantastic than you can imagine! It’s led me to start developing a philosophy that goes something like this: Digital IS “perfect sound forever”; it’s what we do to the signal between the surface of the CD and the speaker cone that compromises it.” 
So I suppose what I’m asking for is stories from people who have explored both mediums in depth and came to the conclusion that CD has the most potential (or vice versa - that’s helpful too). And I don’t simply mean you’ve spent a lot of money on a CD player. I mean you’ve tinkered and tweaked and done actual “research in the lab,” and came back with a deep understanding of the medium and can share those experiences with others.

In my experience, the three most important things to get right are to find a good CD player (and good rarely means most expensive in my experience) and then give it clean power. In my case, I have modified my CD player to run off battery power with DC-DC regulators. The last thing that must be done right is the preamp. It’s the difference between “sounds pretty good” and “sounds dynamic and realistic.”
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marantz8
7 posts
 
On the digital side, I’ve ripped all my CD’s and SACD’s to uncompressed FLAC or DSF files which are stored on an SSD ATA hard drive installed in a Roon Nucleus+ and served to a Matrix X-Sabre Pro MQA DAC. The sound is pretty amazing. On the analog side, I have a modded Rega RP6 with a Hana ML moving coil cartridge and a Manley Chinook tube phono stage. The rest of the system consists of a BAT VK30 tube line stage preamp and a pair of PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium tube monoblock amps driving Magnepan 1.7i speakers. As amazing as the digital side sounds, and as much as I hate record noise, analog is more compelling and involving. I have far more media in digital format but if I have a choice, and quality vinyl, I will choose to listen to vinyl every time.
jmbumgarner01
64 posts
 
Happy New Year all,

As many have pointed out the source material and transfer/pressing etc is also critical to answer this once equipment is optimized and of similar quality. Funny but last night by chance I was listening to Return To Forever “Where Have I known You Before”. First I was listening on Tidal, then I put in the CD that I own and finally on vinyl.  While resolution on Tidal was good overall the highs were stringent and sound stage modest at best. The CD is an 80’s transfer and is terrible. The vinyl won by a mile in all areas. I then followed that with Patricia Barber’s new record “Smash”. I have the lp and Tidal both were excellent but Tidal got the edge. I have also recently bought numerous new lp pressing most on 180g  vinyl that are atrocious right out of the sleeve, I have 30 year old heavily played records that sound significantly better. As many have pointed out there is certainly no definitive answer here as many other factors impact the final eargasm. Here’s to a great 2021 of listening!
itsjustme
681 posts
 
This is just an invitation for argument but I’ll bite: yes.
Remember that digital is in its infancy. 35 years after the development of the record we were still recording into tin horns.
now, "CD", as in a plastic disk with pits integrated with an onboard, typically simple DAC, would not be my choice. I learned early that ripping my CDs to disk (FLAC) and playing them through the same DAC was consistently superior.
There are ton of terrible CDs and digital recordings out there. But there are also tons of terrible pressings. Listen to old Blue Note, Verve and Mercury masters to CD and you can hear the potential - and this folks, is only 16/44k.
I am putting aside the fact that some people may like euphonic colorations from both some turntables and from some tubes. nothing wrong with this since that’s also what sounding boards on Pianos and violins do....

While i have 3 esoteric turntables (the least good being an LP12/Ittok/Troika), i rarely listen to anything except Tidal at this point - and its superb.
I'll note that most people who hear my system flatly state that they didn't know digital could sound like that. And while i have significant money in it, its far, far from top drawer (in terms of price anyway). I also modify much of it, building my own phase-locked-loops and power supplies, both of which matter greatly (although the best timing systems available today need no external help)

jonnie22
42 posts
 
I’m surprised this is still brought up.

There are many variables. Was the CD an analog-recording that wasn’t mastered right ? Are we using a transport that can-only read CD ? Dedicated-CD is better than multi-format.

Is the listener using an R2R DAC ?(vs Delta/Hybrid). The former are better for PCM, hence their resurgence in the last 8 years.

Loudness is a choice of the engineer, not a direct-fault of digital recording. Look how good digital pop-music sounded in the early-to-mid 90s.

LP is LOADED with problems. To start, you don’t know if a used-disc is scratched, with CD you do. LP-listening interrupts the artist’s intent (but this is minor).

LP is made from recycled-PVC -it warps and collects dust. It’s speed is too slow -so collectively, a big-step down from 78s, except surface noise. LP has ’groove bias’ (pre-echo), sampling slowdown (185% inner to outer grooves), bearing friction, ’rumble and offset’ (which sends distortion thru the amp).

Unless direct-drive -belt-slippage, (still) high surface noise -S/N of 50db vs. 90+ CD, low channel-separation -25 vs 75db at 1 kHz.

Highs and lows are trimmed. What gets me is that people actually believe LP sounds better, Even in 2020, the year we (should) see...


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bullitt5094
266 posts
 
I've explored CD, FLAC, and Analog-Record sources. All with pretty high end signal paths. My Feickert Analog turntable for example. Results... FLAC files derived from CDs sound the best TO ME. I actually sold my OPPO after discovering this and not needing a CD Transport. But I also love listening to my Feickert feeding a Whest Two.2 phono-pre. Records are fun, but they don't sound as accurate or as clean. Certainly the noise floor is much higher than a well generated digital stream to me. Still I listen to analog quite a bit. And my speakers range from large, 4-way boxes to single point OB. So that's what I found in my world.
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