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Can digitizing vinyl match CD?

I'm digitizing some of my vinyl so that it is transportable. I'll keep the LPs, but I just don't want to buy duplicates of the LPs on CD. I have some LPs not released on vinyl. I'll be sampling at either 48 or 96 bps.

Is it possible for digitizing vinyl to match or exceed commercial Red Book CDs?

Is the commercial process of CD production by definition superior to anything I could achieve since the studio master recordings are fewer generations removed from the original than my LPs would be?

Are my CBS Masterworks Series Digitally Remastered LPs already compromised (compared to original analog releases) because they've departed from the analog production cycle?

Or is it only possible to exceed CD quality if price is no object?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Craig
craig_c
restock
831 posts
 
My friend has been "ripping" some vinyl to 24/96 using the Alesis
masterdisc. I did compare the high-rez files to vinyl and CDs if possible and
they certainly are getting closer to vinyl.

I think if the LP outclasses the CD there is a good chance your high-rez files
will as well. When downsampling the 24/96 files to 16/44 they do sound a lot
more like CD, loosing some of the information and nuances.

It was a bit of a surprise at first that a digital file made at home could be
better than what is on CD and I never quite believed Michael Fremer when he
claimed this with his Alesis, but I did revise my opinion on this now.
hi5harry's avatar
hi5harry
185 posts
 
I have been recording some of my vinyl on to my hard drive at 24/96. I find it sounds better than cd quality, but not as good as vinyl. The best ( and unexpected ) part for me is I still get to hear what different cartridges and phono preamps sounded like after I have moved to other equipment.
musicslug
430 posts
 
you're leaving out a huge factor: the quality of the turntable - every improvement you make there will come through on your digitized versions. (and of course the CDP's quality is important too) I've been digitizing my frequently-played LPs using an LP12/ekos/benz set-up and 24/48 recording - and have been amazed how good the results are: definitely better than almost all the commercial CDs - even remasters - that I've compared my copies to. it was immediately apparent when I started to do it, but, just to be sure, I did some A/B comparisons, and my initial impressions were confirmed.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,669 posts
 
If you are ripping vinyl, and you have the Alesis Masterdisk, set it to record at 24/88.2 This way there will be no algorithm needed to convert to Red Book, but there will be the same advantage of 24/96 in that there will be no brickwall filter used. That's the best way to get the most out of the Alesis, if used for Red Book.

I would do the same on a computer, if the software supports the codec.
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