CD Or Vinyl - New Release Albums....

This is something I've been meaning to get your opinion on for a while now, but have just got round to it.

What are your feelings on new release vinyl? By this I mean current albums being relased on both CD and Vinyl. My initial thoughts (and indeed argument until recently) were given the fact that the majority of music being recorded now is recorded 100% digitally (Protools etc) before the final mix down, CD must have the sound quality advantage as it's already in its native digital format. Whereas with vinyl the music would simply be converted to analogue then pressed onto the disk with all the inherent issues of vinyl to boot (pops, crackles, wear etc) rendering new release vinyl rather pointless.

I can understand older vinyl and its perceived superiority given that pre '95 (approx – please correct if that's not accurate) most things were recorded 100% analogue – thus the music was already in the analogue domain giving it an advantage.

I must admit to forgetting how vinyl is made, and heard quite a good argument that vinyl is still superior to the CD version as it will be mixed down differently onto the vinyl pressing, maybe even with a more “audiophile†sound in mind.

There is probably a very simple answer to this and it will be along the lines of “digital is already converted to analogue by DACs thus making the sound between the two virtually indistinguishable†– but hey, it's something to discuss!!

Hope you get my jist on this - it's quite a hard subject to explain

 

I suppose in absolute terms it depends on how good the convertors at the vinyl mastering stage are and how good the convertors in the CD players are. The other thing is when the audio is taken from digital to analogue in the studio it should still be multi-track audio rather than a stereo mix which should help preserve things a bit better as there is less degredation as a whole.
Dunno about audiophile sound, its just the method of mastering records is inherantly different to CDs as the formats are different.

 

A lot of places, if not most, will record in higher than CD standard. This means when its mastered to vinyl it could be higher quality. I say could, again it depends on a lot of things like the studios DAC's the quality of the pressing, your turntable, your CD player.

I have always thought along the lines of if it was recorded digitally then buy it on a digital format. Most of my stuff I record at 44.1khz 32bit then mast4er down to 16bit. I do notice a slight drop in dynamics but not a huge difference. With things like SACD and DVD-A, IMO, digital will soon be the winner. Oh HDCD are quite good as well but a dead format really, you need a £20,000 box to encode them so most mastering studios don't bother. If only there was a computer software to do it... or SACD burners even better!

 

It's a tough question and in my experience can be different for each recording.

My vinyl replay is, imo, better than my digital replay so even albums recorded in digital tend to sound better on my system.

Examples where I have both for instance - Nocturama (nick cave) it is too clase to call - cd has better bass depth, vinyl has better mid-range, therefore it's swings and roundabouts.

I have a load of ECM vinyl - thanks to a sale in fopp - which were recorded digitally but sound fantastic on vinyl.

Personally I still tend to get the album on vinyl if I can.

 

Tenson,

I would not discount HDCD as being dead just yet.

I read recently that the rights to HDCD were purchased by a certain Mr William Gates of Microsoft.

Apparantly they have big plans for HDCD.

 

I have Kid A on both vinyl and CD. Not surprisingly they have a different sound. I prefer CD for this recording as it has more excitement. Also, Pearl Jam's Vs sounds better on CD - more Rock. But all my classicals sound better on vinyl but they obviously were recorded analogue long long time ago. So I gues it's what type of presentation I like which in the end tends to be CD for new recordings.

JJ

 

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I Listen to 'Proof' off 'I Am Kloot' on vinyl, it is so much better than the CD version its laughable.

Bob

 

Subtle.

Dunc

 

Lost me (1st post to - I feel a Mod' alert coming on)

Aaaanyway, the reason I ask is just that I can sometimes have difficulty handing over the same amount of money for a CD as for the Vinyl version when the vinyl version comes with so many inherent problems (in my experience only), as a format I still love vinyl and for anything pre 1990 really I'll always go for the vinyl version if possible.

However in 2005 I struggle to do the same when they are next to each other on the shelf, probably just me being a mentalist but I was wonderiing how many of you feel the same really in todays digitally recorded age.

 

I'm going to get a custom made lead that goes from my CD player direct to my digital brain-lobe thing, so that I can bypass all those crappy analogue devices like speakers and...er......ears.

Seriously though, I find that vinyl recordings sound great and in many ways a good pressing in good condition sounds more pleasing than most (but not all, strangely) of my CDs, but as I sourced most of my vinyl collection from 2nd hand shops and boot sales most of it has seen better days and sometimes the effect of excessive pops and crackles (even when only audible between tracks) somehow spoils my fun. Perversely, I kind of enjoy the pops and crackles that an artist has deliberately recorded as part of the track, always makes me smile because it seems such a stupid thing to do.

I don't have many albums on CD and vinyl, and the ones I do have are generally remastered on CD etc so that I can't really make a direct comparison, but even different pressings of the same album on vinyl can sound noticeably different if the quality varies, a problem I guess shouldn't occur on digital stuff, but I stand to be corrected........

Have I said anything there, or just rambled?

 

I reckon modern LP pressings are generally excellent, the only ones I've had problems with are the cheap 'audiophile bollocks' heavy pressings made of recycled vinyl which pick up scratches from thin air. I bought a 180 marquee moon, just as the solo bit starts to pick up again on the title track (after the break down) it jumps 4 grooves. Just appeared one day :x . The valentines re-issues were crap too, great sound for about 10 plays then it all goes to pot.
On the other hand I found a simply vinyl copy of transformer by Lou Reed in HMV for £7 which is excellent. And about the only thing they had in there that wasn't £17

 

I always give my new vinyl at least two passes on my Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine as it's quite common to still have residue on sealed records which comes from the pressing/distribution process.

 

i had a copy of 'together alone' by crowded house on simply vinyl that jumped straight into the first track. saying that, my copies of Grace and Ziggy stardust on simply vinyl are both great recordings.

as for which format to go for: this is the reason i sold my cdp. i was buying both formats and losing cash hand over fist.
i have learnt to accept the relative shortcomings of copied CD's and am revelling in the beauty of vinyl new and old

 

I have a number of vinyl classical records from the late 80s that are digitally mastered. To a fault, they are all bright, dynamically over contrasty and in your face. Initially, the sound has a certain wow factor because of these effects, notably on violin parts, but after a while, it just gets wearing and fatigue sets in - just like CDs really.

The catridge choice makes an enormous difference though: my Ortofon Kontrapunkt B accentuates the effect, whilst my Koetsu Rosewood Standard 'softens' the contrast.

Overall, I am an analogue fan through and through for 'real' listening (CD has its uses) and any "digitalisation" only screws up the sound. Once screwed up, no amount of putting it back together again or sophisticated replay equipment can recreate what once was good.

 

The same could be said of classical cds from that era - I have a Karajan Beethoven set, on cd, which could cut glass.

For classical most modern digital recordings are excellent, especially from labels such as Chandos, Hyperion, Bis, etc..

But just to throw a spanner in the works I have started to enjoy classical on sacd more and more - Listening to Renee Flemings' Handel recital last night This really does have the benefit of analogue and digital all on the same disc and proves what the format could do if more labels got behind it.

 

i would say avoid any old analogue recordings which have been digitally remastered
vinyl or cd,new digital recordings probably sound best on cd