What's up with America?

1. I'm trying to understand compression and expansion. I am assuming that there is expansion (or at least no compression) when I listen to my vinyl America because the level is pretty low. Presumably, the musical peaks are not compressed, so the rest of the material sounds somewhat muted. In contrast, if the CD has compression, then everything will sound a bit louder (except the peaks of course) and low level detail might be more perceptible? Like, isn't it compression that causes TV commercials to sound louder and clearer?

2. Alternatively, perhaps your CD player is simply better than your vinyl playback system -- the BDP 95 is no slouch. Could you share your vinyl playback system details?

Defining compression is much more involved than that but I think you nailed it in a nutshell. However I think both the vinyl and CD are just as compressed. The only difference I experience is better overall resolution with the CD. No difference in dynamic range to my ears at all. My TT's are an Oracle Alexandria with FR arm and Dynavector Ruby, and also an Oracle Paris with Oracle arm and various cartridges. Could be my technical ability is lacking in setting up my TT's but I have not experienced this opposite effect with other source material. The vinyl is always more resolving. I'm convinced there's a degree of re-engineering on the CD. Maybe not more overall compression but possibly a change at certain frequencies thereby cleaning up sibilance?

Mellow gold songs at their finest!

Happy Listening!