Has anyone been able to define well or measure differences between vinyl and digital?
It’s obvious right? They sound different, and I’m sure they measure differently. Well we know the dynamic range of cd’s is larger than vinyl.
But do we have an agreed description or agreed measurements of the differences between vinyl and digital?
I know this is a hot topic so I am asking not for trouble but for well reasoned and detailed replies, if possible. And courtesy among us. Please.
I’ve always wondered why vinyl sounds more open, airy and transparent in the mid range. And of cd’s and most digital sounds quieter and yet lifeless than compared with vinyl. YMMV of course, I am looking for the reasons, and appreciation of one another’s experience.
There are so many errors in @fair's word salad that it makes my head spin. Kudos to @thespeakerdude for having the patience to sort them out. One thing to consider about digital audio is that the math that makes it work is the same math that explains the squiggles on an LP: the Fourier Transform. That's not just a theory, but a theorem; it can be proven with math. In that sense, it's perfect, and I'm saying that as an analog guy. |
If there is any interest, this is probably the best single article I have discovered that explains digital audio. It is not light reading nor heavy reading. Dan, who put it together obviously put a lot of time into it. It is almost 20 years old so comments about processing power are no longer relevant, but everything else is. I have come across many articles on digital audio written by less technical people. They get the basics right, but they often make mistakes and they never go into the depth that this article provides. You may need to read it 2 or 3 times to understand well enough, but if you do, it will dispel a lot of misconceptions about digital audio.
If you have any questions about the article I will try to answer them. |
This video provides an excellent explanation and actual demonstration of how digital audio works, and how it doesn't. |
Thanks for the extensive explanations of digital audio and references @thespeakerdude Can we now summarize (are we there yet?) and identify general principles that help shape the differences between these two formats. I’m not interested in which one is better, as judgments are too system and context as well as music and preferences dependent. Rather, can we draw conclusions about their differences that are more or less general or specific conclusions (about dynamics, freq range, noise and noise floor, PRAT, mid or high freq airiness and so on or our hearing preferences, sensitivities and limits) that shed light on common experiences?
I just watched Paul at PS Audio say how what MOFI was doing recording using DSD was in his view the right way to record and preserve masters in digital and then transfer onto vinyl for playback. Is vinyl playback giving anything different to digital playback from the same master copy?
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we are wired to appreciate sound based on our memories of the sound we grew up on. It may be what resembles it, perfects it or what the total opposite is but in either case, it's still our baseline. Most of the characteristics is in our head: what it evokes, what we think it is vs. what it does sound like. To me vinyl is raw, unfiltered, imperfect, "authentic" which translates to dynamic, lively, bold and forward. The key is that I like that sound. Digital (unless tweaked) goes for the opposite: neutral and processed. For a lot of productions, I prefer that, e.g. when the recording was a mess, tiring after a few seconds, I need the digital fix.
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