Issue with dynamic range database

It was mentioned. However, that only validates the authors point, it does not invalidate it.  The online dynamic range data base is user generated. We can be confident the digital values are accurate as digital systems are consistent at a macro level. Analog playback systems are not. Rumble, poor equalization, poor turntable set up, will all lead to exaggerated numbers not representative of the music. This is the authors point which you seem to be missing.

Seems to me as a total lay person in this field, and speaking only to the question of which process is more "dynamic", that if either your input RIAA emphasis or your phono stage's RIAA compensation circuit are not perfect, then that will inevitably affect one's sense of dynamic contrasts, up or down.  So for that reason you cannot generalize unless you know you've been using "perfect" RIAA equalization, both in and out, whatever that is.  There is no point in arguing about it.

It is not something you can modify so, who cares?

So how you can draw such conclusion - dynamic meter is false?

Steve didn't check to see how the loading was affecting the playback- in this case a high output MM cartridge was used. If you don't load those things they can make a considerable amount of lower ordered harmonic distortion which will be interpreted by the meter as 'dynamics' as its energy content not found in the original file.


The phono preamp can affect this as well depending on how stable its design actually is. The circuit needs to be immune to ultrasonic and RF energy that might exist due to the interaction between the inductance of the cartridge and the capacitance of the tonearm interconnect cable.

In a nutshell this is a red herring. The vinyl is in no way more dynamic- its just distortion. The funny thing about this is that in most audiophile conversations, the word 'dynamics' can be safely replaced with the word 'distortion' and the meaning of the conversation is unchanged.

Thank you for adding that detail Atmasphere. The voice of experience!   The author of the Youtube video was making this point. The data base is not a lab grade measurement, it is a measurement made by people with every day turntables, and probably a lot of Crossleys with USB. Most audiophiles don't digitize their records.  Most of those turntables will have lots of issues, not necessarily bad from a listening standpoint, that will render the value for the vinyl record useless.

Ralph, sugabooger, The vinyl in the youtube video is not more dynamic than the CD, no doubt about it.. The TT meter does not work for vinyl. Is vinyl sometimes mastered with greater dynamic range than digital releases of the same album though? Many people believe that is the case.