Why Vinyl Is Better Than Cds

The simplest is to make a record that plays faster.

Why vinyl is better than cds. The vinyl format can generate other issues. Vinyl is in a resurgence of course with records outselling cds for the first time in almost three decades. There are built in problems with using vinyl as a data encoding mechanisms that have no cd equivalent. Cds give you more bang for the buck.

Digital got its act together but not until the death of the cd. For comparison listening to vinyl as opposed to digital is like viewing the mona lisa with your own eyes rather than looking at a picture of it on a smartphone. Cds are now cheaper than lps. You ll also hear vinyl enthusiasts discussing the warm sound they get from their record players.

But this article isn t focused on why cds are better than vinyl. Take a look at the graph below. Original sound is analog by definition. On a theoretical level there s just no reason it should be the case that vinyl sounds better.

In practical terms this means that cds have more than 10. Maybe it was coincidence but vinyl began its resurgence at around the same time as recordings started this trend. It wasn t long before vinyl recordings of the same content often had better sound quality at normal listening volumes simply because they had higher dynamic range. 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.

It s for this reason that vinyl sounds better than digital. Cds on the other hand have been on the decline. Their sales have dropped by 95 percent since 2000 the peak days of cds according to a new report and are currently at their lowest level since 1986. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.

The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. Cds can handle over 90 db. While coloured vinyl and picture discs are an easy way to ensure degradation to a record s playback there are practices made to better the way an lp sounds.