Sales of vinyl records have been soaring although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry s revenues.
Do clear vinyls sound better.
The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.
About 2 percent in 2014.
Some listeners honestly feel that the defects vinyl introduces somehow make it more attractive or warmer but from any objective standpoint there s no justification in calling the sound of vinyl records better submit a question to ask the expert.
Very few additives can be mixed into clear vinyl without jeopardizing the opacity which means there is a potential for worse sound quality albeit this drop is often imperceptible to the common listener.
Even by conventional metrics quality of the sound will tank the more you lean on this compression.
A few exceptions exist.
Vinyl is back no doubt about it.
As of today he makes it clear that he s comparing vinyl to mp3 but when i originally commented he simply said that vinyl was better than digital i agree that vinyl when played through a good audio setup will probably sound better than an mp3 file especially a low bitrate one.
There s basically nothing you can do to make an hour long album on one record sound good gonsalves said.
Vinyl s capable of a lot but only if the grooves are wide enough for the needle to track.
Of course when you listen in on casual discussions of sound in 2013 you often hear that lps are back because they sound better this has happened in part because digital audio is now.
The more information running past the needle per second the more detailed the sound being reproduced.
Cds reflect exactly what the artists recorded in the studio.
Is the sound on vinyl records better than on cds or dvds.
The practice isn t inherently a bad thing but there are tradeoffs.
By doing it too much you can unintentionally add noise and artifacts into your recordings by raising the levels of certain sounds as well as cutting the loudness of individual.
The latter is usually preferred for an album as it means you can fit more tracks onto a single disc but it is becoming slightly more popular to favour sound over convenience especially with re issues.
A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings.
Take a look at the graph below.
Loud music can sound better in some instances but when you push it too far you lose a lot of sound quality when your listeners change the volume.
Clear vinyl picture discs and glow in the dark pressings are more susceptible to poor playback.
Pete lyman co owner and chief mastering technician at infrasonic sound an audio and vinyl mastering studio in echo park.
