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.
Since this is also an exposé of human pleasure and pain, we should understand these systems too. Here’s a starter reference. |
We have internally used a blended metric similar to the Gm Gedlee metric for quite a few years. I know at least 2 of our competitors do as well. I agree on his basic premise that mechanical systems (speaker drivers) do not have as much higher order distortion, but on a practical basis, with multiple drivers, how distortion presents is more complex. One missing element is frequency weighting. In one of the links, 2nd order distortion was described as euphonic. That may be true at a high enough level. Using the Gedlee metric, at the levels indicated, it would inaudible or close enough. Almost any DAC today would have a Gm close to 0. Not just expensive ones, all of them. The vinyl vs CD article talks a lot about vinyl, not much about CD. One small, near useless section. I lost confidence in the author over a few items. Changing the load on an MC cartridge (135 ohms), from100pF to 200pF reduced the 3rd order distortion? I have done enough DIY electronics to know that smelled funny. That would change an RC filter from 12MHz to 6MHz. I say bad amp, bad switch setting, or multiple plays. Raises an issue with phase in filters on CD while ignoring that vinyl likely has phase shift too. Show digital samples that look bad, say it needs a reconstruction filter, then don’t show one? Bio attached to the article. Really impressive! He must be an expert? BS-Zoology, BS-Psychology, MS-Physiological Psychology, Ph.D.-Neuroscience. Welcome to 2022, everyone is an expert. |
First post ever here so I thought I'd jump into the deep end. To preface my comment, I'm a music-lover who likes quality audio equipment with limited tinkering. I'm not swapping out gear on a regular basis or cycling through various speaker setups, I have a mid-fi setup because that's what I can afford. I've cycled back and forth over the years w/ vinyl, reel-to-reel, CDs, HD digital, and streaming. One can run numbers all day about frequency response and bitrates, etc. and they're still numbers. At the end of the day though, for me it's about how the music sounds when I'm listening. Casual listening/background listening? Streaming is fine. I can "live" with the audio quality while I'm doing chores around the house. When I'm sitting down in the evening when the house is quiet, and I want to listen to particular albums I listen to the best available recording I have. That might be a CD or vinyl or HD digital download or HD streaming. People will go to the mat defending the warmth and audio purity of vinyl over digital but for my listening purposes it really is dependent upon when the master recording was made (pre-digital mastering) and what format the master recording was in (tape / digital). For example, my original copy of Beggars Banquet sounds like the late 60s piece of vinyl that it is. It's a "grungy" blues-rock album that sounds better on vinyl as it relates to warmth and the organic noise that is inherent to vinyl while the digital copy sounds a little too clean. Conversely, a new ambient / electronic album mastered digitally will sound great on CD / Streaming and marginally different on vinyl where the inherent flaws of vinyl imprint themselves on playback It's a different listening experience but in that respect, the vinyl isn't necessarily superior to the digital playback. And sometimes, digital /streaming sounds way better than the vinyl version. I had this happen on the new Calexico release. The vinyl doesn't sound nearly as good as the digital copy. It's too muddy. And that's an album with intentional "grit" in the recording to sound more vintage. The new vinyl pressing buries some instrumentation. I think if you're evaluating which recording format sounds "better" is very much subjective to your listening situation at that point in time and I also like to keep in mind that there's a lot of music out there that was intended to be played over the radio, loudly at concerts and on cheap consumer turntables, not overly analyzed for instrument separation and soundstage. |
