Old vs. new

Whatever.

When CD's first came out, vinyl was better, but now, both of them are all over the place. A friend just bought CD's that were better than my original Blue Note LP's.

Old CD's are not as good as old LP's, but the game keeps changing.

In general, old LP's seem to be better than current LP's, but this LP CD thing is a crap shoot, and I'm still trying to learn the rules of the game.

Lp's are hit or miss, it's the same today as it was 40 years ago. Variables include the recording engineer, mastering and pressing plant among others including the thickness and material makeup of the vinyl itself. Pressings with an ear to quality are using certain colour vinyl due to it not using the carbon black contained in regular black vinyl. The carbon can absorb magnetism which affects playback quality on whatever vinyl front end you use. There is a machine that will demagnetise any albums containing carbon black. True science not snake oil this can be empirically proved using test equipment.

Today many pressings use superior vinyl, think of Classic Records with the Bernie Grundman all analog playback and cutting system used with excellent result. The Pink Floyd Vinyl Box Set Echos, the modern digital transfers of their catalog, the remasters of all Led Zeppelin albums and countless others use the best available analog sources to produce high resolution digital files used to cut the LP's Digital has come very far in the last 20 years, many of the releases of older material using digital masters have better and more consistent audio quality since the master files never wear the way analog master tape does.

When I buy used pressings, I try to decipher the deadwax using Discogs on my phone while in the store and study the Goldmine catalog as well as the forums such as Steve Hoffman to decode the consensus of which pressings are best and which to avoid. Many people complain about the quality of the remastered 180 and 200 gram vinyl sold today, often lamenting it sounds different or inferior. I was often among those until I up graded my vinyl rig and phono stage from 1970s and 1980s to a more modern rig with a more expensive cartridge and phono stage. As touched on above, audiophile quality pressings are not for those with a dusted off Dual, Technics, etc. 1970's average turntable. The results often sound horrible and inferior to the originals which we pressed  by design to work on the majority of turntables owned and not returned because the skipped or sounded bad. Think of the quickly recalled original Robert Ludwig pressing of Led Zeppelin II. Ahmet Ertegun quickly recalled the original pressings in 1969 and had it recut after complaints from his niece, saying the album skipped repeatedly on her record player, no matter how many replacements she tried.

Today a veritable smorgasbord of vinyl is available digital and analog sourced. If you want the ultimate in vinyl playback try any of the 1000 reissues of single and double LPs pressed at 45RPM on multiple side.This allows the cutting lathe and amp to run wide open with no worry about how many minutes can be cut to one LP side. Typically 2 LP's are needed to press a 45 RPM 12" pressing of a single LP. Titles such as Rumors are over the top good, same with Peter Gabriel releases, Doors releases, Dire Straits, the list goes on and on.

Will they sound better on a 1970s or 80's type vinyl rig? Yes. Will you be able to get all the increased detail and resolution contained within the groves? No way. Are they more expensive that a 33 RPM reissues,? Yes about 30 percent more. Will a modern mid-fi and better arm, cart and table with phono stage make a difference in playback quality of these albums? Absolutely. I know this from experience. When done properly modern analog and digital sourced LP's can sound unbelievably good. Are the masses willing to invest in a vinyl front end capable of playing these albums to their fullest sonic content? Mostly no, but better quality tables arms and carts are trickling down with decreasing price tags, placing mid-fi and better vinyl rigs within the grasp of vinyl savvy consumers, even as vinyl prices increase. 

In this game, you most often get what you are prepared to pay for. Or you can stick with older technology and used records, playing hit or miss insearch of the best sounding vinyl. I was hesitant to upgrade my old vinyl rig. Now that I have, there is no looking back and I don't regret spending the 8K$ I did for everything I have. Once I hear what vinyl is really capable of, there was no looking back. Sure a bad pressing sounds bad or even worse in an expensive turntable than an older combo. Bad sound is bad and that's not going to change no matter what you spend. This is why you do your research before buying. Was it the pressing or the master recording, the vinyl master transfers, or were the original source tapes recorded poorly or using cheap equipment within reach of studios 50 years ago. I avoid any Dynaflex records, anything with Columbia House and RCA Record Service on the album or jacket. Chances are they sound like total ASS on any turntable, even a Crosley Crusher.

Do your research. Upgrade to a better analog front end if at all possible. Clean your LP's correctly. It's not any one thing that nets major improvement, it's the sum total of them all together that make that huge difference in audio playback quality. Then you can hear what vinyl is capable of, damn close to master tape in quality if it is done and played correctly.

All you have to do is stick to artists that value analog.
Like Shelby Lynne.
She owns a   2" tape machine and used Doug Sax and his protege Robert Hadley.
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/shelby-lynne-vinyl-records.338591/

Mastering for LP vs CD is a different process, very often a different engineer and facility ( for the same title ) a careful read of your liner notes ( you know the ones you crave ) will reveal this...

lots of you seem stuck in a narrow groove based on an old dataset... kinda like judging the new Vette on the “ plastic pig “ of the eighties... sad

the rare artists, up and coming these days to be able to release digital and analog...

how do I know? We sponsor analog releases for an artist out of Tacoma.

re Bop , Ry sang it well : “ the very thing that makes you rich will make you poor “

try to get out now and then...