Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Cleggsan

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Mark wrote at 2009-12-02 09:42:29
How can compressed format like the one used in CDs and other Digital Media sound better than Vinyl? Complete heresy!!! Do yourself favor and listen to CD and LP on an audiophile equipment. If you listen on $100 cd player vs. $100 turntable, there should not be audible difference. But the higher you go (quality of equipment wise) the more you loathe the whole digital compression and its sonic mediocrity.

No bias here. I have been collecting CDs for 20 years and had no intention of converting to vinyl. That ended the day I heard an LP on a good Technics turntable through a pair of Sennheiser HD800 headphones.  

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cleggsan wrote at 2009-12-03 23:04:41
Mark wrote at 2009-12-02 09:42:29

How can compressed format like the one used in CDs and other Digital Media sound better than Vinyl? Complete heresy!!! Do yourself favor and listen to CD and LP on an audiophile equipment. If you listen on $100 cd player vs. $100 turntable, there should not be audible difference. But the higher you go (quality of equipment wise) the more you loathe the whole digital compression and its sonic mediocrity.

No bias here. I have been collecting CDs for 20 years and had no intention of converting to vinyl. That ended the day I heard an LP on a good Technics turntable through a pair of Sennheiser HD800 headphones.



Mark:  Not sure what you are saying but I can agree with you about good LP sound.  And, I am very fond of Technics TT and other Technics equipment having been a Technics engineer in times past and having visited all the factories and having known personally Mr. Obata who designed the Technics turntable products and so on.  But cd audio is not compressed. MP3 audio is compressed and sounds like it.  The LP is not comressed (digitally speaking) because there is no sampling taking place, but the geometry of disc recording from the cutter heads to the playback tracking of the needle in the groove is a great mathematical headache on how to avoid the distortions of the recording and playback systems.  That being said, they can sound very good and with years of experience by vinyl mastering engineers who have learnt the art of how to keep the dynamics of the cutting system in check the results can be overwhelmingly good.  The same can be said of good cd sound.  The recording, mixing and pre-mastering effort is not unlike that of LP mastering.  With lots of practice and experience CD recordings can sound very good or very bad.  But, the big difference, acoustically speaking, is the difference in noise level between the two.  I have conducted various listening test using several different listening panels and music/sound sources in the Technics acoustic laboratories and it is clear that good LPs can sound much better than bad CDs.  But it is also true that really good CDs are better then the best LPs.  Why?  Due to dynamic range and lower fundamental distortion products.  Over many years of audio design it is clear to me, not based on subjective analysis or personal preferences, but objective tests of the equipment and scientifically conducted listen tests with panels ranging from "golden ears" and audiophiles to secretaries and people off the street that digital recordings when produced correctly will out perform the LP.  HOWEVER:  Some analog recorded master tapes are very hard to beat!  Some analog master recordings may still be the golden standard by which really good sound will be judged. But, trying to get that sound on lacquer is a challenge that has not been accomplished.  Have a great day.  

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