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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
skyscraper
829 posts
 
Both mediums have their up and down sides. I've largely switched over to Redbook CD's due to several factors, even though to my ears vinyl sounds more natural. 

1) The pops, clicks and and other surface noises of vinyl are too distracting and appear even on albums that look to be in perfect condition.
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2) As mentioned above, you can play a whole album through without having to get up and flip it  over, which does distract you from enjoying what you are listening to. CD's do usually have more playing time too than their vinyl equivalents

3) Used CD's are usually in perfect shape and stay that way. Used records not so much. Used CD's that play flawlessly are readily available at a fraction of the cost of new vinyl records. I don't bother any more with used vinyl due to both the likelihood increased surface noise with age plus used records cost.

4) As mentioned by Gone, above, there appears to be more material available on CD, especially of more obscure recordings. 

6. I could be wrong here, but there seems to be a lot of remastered CD's that correct some of the limiting factors of the original vinyl pressings with the remastering onto CD's. I recently read an article of what those factors are, maybe compression, but I can't remember for sure. Maybe someone else here would know.

7  You can't beat the ease of use of CD's, and don't need a record cleaning machine for them like you should use with your records. 

Mike
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,719 posts
 
Another +vote for the CD.

Happy Listening!
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jallan
311 posts
 
Just barely touched on here, but most newer (since the early 80’s) lp’s were mixed from digital recordings. I have done a lot of comparisons over the years. Digital recordings on lp’s have the “vinyl” sound just like those analogue sourced. Thus, the media and playback itself imparts much of the smooth, tonally warm sound. Which sounded best? As I moved up the developmental food gain, from crappy 14 bit early cd’s played on the highly colored but musical Adcom CD player, to the warm, analogue sounding CAL Alpha/Delta RTR player, to the more analytical but more detailed Sony5400 ES SACD player with high-res recordings, analogue records began to be approached or exceeded where I had both digital and analogue media. 
The game changer for me was the remastering or initial recording to much higher quality digital high resolution with fewer artifacts, and most importantly the acquisition of a top notch DAC (Schiit Yggdrasil). Now, everything is better with the high res digital recordings, including the sense of space and air. The new DACs are really great. Yes, I am a ladder RTR guy, thanks Mike Moffat. I also note that entry level phono cartridges are in the thousands of dollars for highly fragile and twiddly equipment that is short-lived. The prices seem insane. I miss my $81 Sonus Blues ($375 or so in today’s dollars for SOA in a phono cartridge). The relative value of a Schiit Yggdrasil or Mytek or Chord DAC seems much higher.
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georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 


Later recordings that were done using digital, CD wins out.

Early recordings that were done analogue vinyl wins out, "until" I put a left to right bleed switch on the output of my CDP/dac that brings the channel separation back down to 30db at best like vinyl, then cd wins out because of no surface noise.

When you "monoize" (down to 30db channel separation) early cd’s like I do with the switch, with early left right ping pong cd’s (Beatles, Beach Boys etc) it gives more body to the bass and mids and a more solid centre image like the vinyl does.

Cheers George
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