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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.”
128x128mkgus
audiogeorge
3 posts
 

Dear Mkgus:  The Real Reason Some People Prefer Analog To Digital

There’s a problem that has been ignored by the entire music industry which I believe is really important for music-lovers that I think you my want to investigate, the greater pitch accuracy, higher signal to noise ratio, and higher dynamic range of digital notwithstanding. Approximately 35 years ago when digital media was introduced to the music consuming public as a media with “Perfect Sound Forever” the music industry made a huge screw up when it got the playback polarity of digital music on CDs and later DVDs, etc. in reversed (inverted polarity).  On a purely random basis that means that digital media and files are heard in the wrong polarity approximately 85% of the time and either 92% wrong or correct when audio systems are set to a fixed playback polarity.  

The result is that the music played in inverted polarity sounds harsh and two-dimensional. And that’s probably the major reason that some music-lovers still believe (without knowing the real reason) that analog sounds better than digital.  Analog media plays in the correct polarity over 99.9% of the time but also sounds bad if played in inverted polarity. It’s difficult if not impossible to make meaningful comparisons of the fidelity and musicality of media and audio components when they aren’t playing in absolute polarity.  The better the playback system the easier it is to hear the differences in polarity. Confusion over polarity may cause music-lovers to expend needless time and money trying to smooth out the irritating and flat sound of digital media when the real problem is music played in inverted polarity.

This should be an object lesson on how an entire industry with its experts and electrical engineers can get it wrong and not do anything about if for over 35 years and counting! So it should be an object lesson that the entire industry that creates recorded music and is based upon scientific principles continues to mostly get polarity wrong.

I've written two monographs that go into great detail about the problem at: http://www.AbsolutePolarity.com and http://www.PolarityGeorge.com. If you or anyone you know might be interested in developing The Perfect Polarizer™ that will detect and correct polarity in real-time, then please forward this email to them/encourage them to contact me, because I believe it could be accomplished with AI/App. Now, do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?”

Respectfully submitted,

George S. Louis, Esq., CEO

Digital Systems & Solutions

President San Diego Audio Society (SDAS)

Website:  www.AudioGeorge.com

Phone:  619-401-9876

1573 Kimberly Woods Dr., El Cajon, CA 92020-7261

P.S.

MQA has repeatedly failed to respond to email questions from myself and other audiophiles about how they treat the polarity of the original recordings, i.e., whether or not they correct the polarity when the original CD/media plays in inverted polarity on approximately 92% of CD players/playback devices.  Their lack of any reply whatsoever doesn’t inspire confidence that they correct it.  And I know audiophiles who’ve played MQA music and found its polarity to vary.   Shame on them!




audio2design
1,351 posts
 
2nd post, me thinks @audiogeorge2 has an axe to grind. You know that most vinyl is digitally mastered?

dhite71
340 posts
 
@mijostyn....being a newbie in the digital realm, I fully acknowledge there is much to learn. I am trusting multiple reviews that the DAC in my integrated is of quality(Audio Research GSi75). My understanding is that the streamer is not significant for SQ if coming out digital into an external DAC.  I therefore have not been inclined to pursue other streamers.  I am only a couple weeks into this arena so there's that too ; )


Admin
Audiogon Official
It's just such a loaded question. It all depends on how the recording was recorded, mixed and mastered for the particular format, and then the quality of equipment on which you're listening to it. The best mastered CD in the world will sound like crap compared to an off-the-shelf LP if you're listening to the LP on a $100,000 system and the CD on a Discman and cheap earbuds. Conversely, an expertly mastered LP will sound awful compared to a standard CD if you play the vinyl on a Mickey Mouse turntable. Taking it a step further, many of the early CDs weren't remastered for digital and thus sounded horrible (Fleetwood Mac's Rumours immediately comes to mind), and many DDD recordings of the '90s and '00s that were released in small quantities on vinyl weren't remastered for analog and sound awful.
For me, personally, I prefer older recordings on vinyl and newer recordings based on the recording/mixing process. I'll usually stay away from vinyl reissues unless I know they're AAA or that they're been remasted/remixed specifically for analog. But I won't hesitate to buy CD box sets like the recent Beatles reissues, especially when not all of the material is being made available on vinyl. (Full disclosure: I end up buying the single CD, the multiple CD, the single vinyl, the multiple vinyl and the picture vinyl, because I am a masochist.)
wesheadley's avatar
wesheadley
162 posts
 
Speaking as somebody that went from vinyl (1000+) to CDs (4000+) and back to vinyl (now 2500+ LPs), and having always had nice gear, my opinion is, overall, yes. Vinyl sounds better to my ears despite the imperfections and differences between pressings, it just sounds consistently more organically real, impactful/dynamic, three-dimensional, and more exciting than my best digital recordings. A bad recording is a bad recording, but a great recording will sound better on a good analog setup. So will most mediocre recordings. I also like having the art, booklets, liner notes I can actually read, etc. Gives me a deeper more involved experience. If you want convenience go for digital, if you want to be moved go with vinyl. Digital and the playback gear these days has improved considerably, it just doesn't excite me.
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