Digital LP’s

@rvpiano   Thanks for opening this thread.  I have had the same question for years.  I have not  knowingly bought a digitally recorded vinyl album since the 80's.  The question for me has always been, what is the point of putting this digital recording on vinyl?  At this point I think the answer, from a sound quality point of view, is there is no reason. 

The only possible reason I could ever come up with is that the physical act of the stylus dragging through the groove somehow creates some good distortion.  Kinda like a tube does.  Probably not. 

bipod72

The sound quality of vinyl, even today’s vinyl won’t be as good as the high-rez digital recording because vinyl has medium format limitations.

It often doesn’t work that way in practice. It is very common for record companies to put a recording’s highest dynamic range version on LP. Check the dynamic range database - you might be surprised. It’s all part of the Loudness wars.

CDs don’t suffer from the same dynamic compression issues that vinyl does because the format can hold more information.

But that it might hold more information doesn’t ensure that the particular pressing will take advantage of that. Often it doesn’t.

And of course, HF on LP far exceeds what can be put on CD.

To answer the OP's initial question, no I have not noticed that.  What I have noticed is that format is secondary to mastering choices and other "care" taken with the recording itself.

Plus, digital recording goes back quite a few decades at this point.  There's lots of good music that never saw pure analog.  

There sure is a lot of infopinion and expectation bias in this thread...

I do agree that vinyl can sound different even when I have the same general master in digital and LP, and I attribute that to the playback chain, and I also agree that choice of vinyl playback hardware is in effect tuning the system.  

I have also purchased some vinyl in the hopes that the master isn't as brickwalled as the CD or other digital version, with moderate but not universal success.

Finally, I mostly buy LPs not because of sound preference but because I like an album enough to (1) reward the artist with a higher margin purchase and (2) have a more physical artifact to enjoy.  It's like making a martini when I put on an LP, and it also "forces" me to listen to at least a whole side if not a whole album.  Plus the colored vinyl looks cool while it's spinning. 

+1 jji666. I believe the mastering is the key. I enjoy vinyl because it is more intentional, with the selection and cleaning ritual, then sitting back with the album cover in hand and enjoying the graphics and information.

CDs are never high rez. They are constrained to 16/44 . LPs are usually mastered from 24/96 or higher, so at least have a chance at being true high rez.

Everyone seems to miss this point. It matters a lot.