Crackles and pops records that skip and the whine of a needle against the lp all problems that the cd advertised itself on solving decades ago.
Why is vinyl superior to cd.
Vinyl may be an underdog to streaming but it has outlasted the cd.
From a technical standpoint digital cd audio quality is clearly superior to vinyl.
Original sound is analog by definition.
There is less interference from hissing turntable rumble etc better stereo channel separation and have no variation in playback speed.
However that s not to say there aren t advantages to digital music.
Thus the well built stationary record player exists in the minds of many as a hi fi ideal despite the fact that cd quality over the same system would be superior.
The quality of a digital reproduction is dictated by how many of those samples of the original are made.
Even as cd sales eclipsed and nearly exterminated vinyl the format was plagued by accusations that its sound was inferior that it was merely a convenient alternative to the lp.
Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output.
It is why mp3 with relatively few samples is so poor and hi res audio with far more is the closest we have to a studio recording.
Vinyl is great but the idea that its sound quality is superior to that of uncompressed digital recordings is preposterous.
What vinyl can t do.
Records aren t exactly known for their portability for example.
To many the superior sound quality and physical collection are enough to justify the investment.
Take a look at the graph below.
Vinyl is a limited market which attracts hipsters and enthusiasts.
They sound different and that s exactly the point.
The vinyl format can generate other issues.
Vinyl is one of the best ways to listen to music.
The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.
A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings.