Why Is Vinyl Superior To Cd

Cds have a better signal to noise ratio i e.

Why is vinyl superior to cd.

To many the superior sound quality and physical collection are enough to justify the investment. Vinyl is a limited market which attracts hipsters and enthusiasts. Cd quality sits somewhere in the middle with 44 100 samples per second at 16 bit accuracy. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.

Vinyl may be an underdog to streaming but it has outlasted the cd. There is less interference from hissing turntable rumble etc better stereo channel separation and have no variation in playback speed. What vinyl can t do. Original sound is analog by definition.

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. For sure hi res digital music is a vastly superior format in both convenience and quality so why would someone side with vinyl over mp3 or streaming. A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings. However that s not to say there aren t advantages to digital music.

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. Take a look at the graph below. The quality of a digital reproduction is dictated by how many of those samples of the original are made. From a technical standpoint digital cd audio quality is clearly superior to vinyl.

Records aren t exactly known for their portability for example. Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output. The vinyl format can generate other issues. Vinyl is great but the idea that its sound quality is superior to that of uncompressed digital recordings is preposterous.

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.