Why Vinyl Records Sound Better

The artwork the lyrics and personal interaction are all reasons that this once dead format has catapulted back into the mainstream consciousness but when asked most people would respond that the biggest reason they love vinyl is the sound.

Why vinyl records sound better. Is the sound on vinyl records better than on cds or dvds. Vinyl is back no doubt about it. Sales of vinyl records have been soaring although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry s revenues. There s very little compression so the loudest parts of those sounds often.

Records aren t exactly known for their portability for example. Vinyl is one of the best ways to listen to music. To many the superior sound quality and physical collection are enough to justify the investment. There s another far superior reason why vinyl is better than lossy digital formats.

Music sounds better played on a good turntable than it does from files or cds. Best turntables under 300. Vinyl can still push music to the limits of its dynamic range 55 70db but it often shies away from doing so in order to maintain sound quality. If a song is recorded on tape its conversion to vinyl better preserves the original sound of the song.

Before weighing vinyl s ahem good and bad sides it helps to know how records are made. Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output. By clint holley well made music it has become clear in the past five years that consumers love vinyl records. Does vinyl reproduce sound better or is it just.

However that s not to say there aren t advantages to digital music. Ask them why and they all say the sound comes first and i agree. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. The dynamics and quieter moments are not lost in the compression process.

Vinyl for the most part avoided the loudness war with the rise of digital music cds included it s possible to make a track sound louder than it naturally should. And of course records have that undeniable nostalgia that so aptly captures either childhood memories or just a simpler or arguably better time in music history. In brief an engineer such as gonsalves receives mixed recordings from the studio or even a band s laptop. About 2 percent in 2014.

Take a look at the graph below. The problem here is that it had a tremendous result on the audio quality.