CD catching vinyl?

I promise I'm not trying to be controversial, but something struck me post the Heathrow show and I wondered if anyone else felt the same.

Ever since I bought an LP12 (close on 20 years ago), I've always thought that vinyl sounded better than CD, and that's despite ditching my LPs and LP12 so that I could focus on what I thought would be a better long term useable product.
I couldn't help but think that whilst wandering around Heathrow this year, that vinyl didn't seem to have the advantage that it used to have, and that many CD based systems were doing some really great things. Maybe it's purely that I preferred the presentation of systems that happened to be fronted by CD as against vinyl, not sure really.

Anyone else think I'm going bonkers?

 

Are you going bonkers? - only for thinking vinyl was superior in the first place! (Only kidding, honest...).

I have always regarded CD as superior, according to the equation

equal sound quality + superior convenience = superior. QED

 

BOnkers? Not entirely. We've also had over 20 years of mastering for CD now, as well as plenty of time to work out that getting the best out of 'digital' is amost entirely an analogue electronics problem.

None of this is to say that vinyl and CD sound the same; they do not, and probably cannot and should not! Yet the difference is pretty irrelevant IMO if either can let you enjoy music.

 

Perhaps that indicates it is time to change your turntable to widen the gap over CD again.

 

I don't have a turntable. My comments were based purely on my experiences at Heathrow, when a good 50% of the systems were driven by vinyl, IMO generally not sounding any better.

 

True - to me they almost all sounded pretty awful. But I think that was just the room rather than the source being the limited factor.

 

In all honesty I thing that recording and mastering have seriously gone down the drain since the 80's. Played some old Alison Moyet CD's and vinyl of the same music the other night and what struck me was how the depth and dynamics has deteriotated over the years so what we have now is highly compressed dross, so no wonder my cd collection I really do enjoy listening to is effectively confined nowadays to the discs that haven't been mangled to death on the mastering desk

 

Both formats can deliver the goods but i think that has been true for many years now, probably sinse the early 90s. Listen to some of the best kit from that time - the PT Dacs, Naim, Meridian and high end multibit Marantz CD players and they are easily as good as the best CD players today in many ways.

I'm with felix on getting the best from CD - concentrate on the PSU, filters and output stage.

 

I would say it's almost impossible to say, as the recording industry normally does it's best to produce crap recordings on either format..... then you stumble across a real cracker !!
I have to confess since the last round of updates to my CD spinner I've not worried what format I've purchased on, it has got "that" good !!! ........ ok so my vinyl front end I'm reliably informed on PFM is not better than a 6 inch nail dragged across the bottom of an unturned bucket ! (LP12/Ekos).

It's taken a long time but CD did get quite good..... BUT I got the suspicion that vinyl is mounting a counter attack... and it's popularity is gaining..... and development has not stopped.... time to save up

 

Hang on a minute Effam, the 80s when Alison Moyet was popular was a decade best forgot for the shear shitness of recordings across the board. Not only were records managing to be pressed to wafer thin vinyl but the sound was just horrendous.

Plus, you are on about Alison Moyet FFS!!!

 

HI GUYS, vinyl to me is a very different sound of that of any digital sources, to each it's own i say, i do not want to get in to an arguement that has no end, analogue has more depth and aura than digital, those of you who grew up with vinyl should know, however digital sources now days are very musical in some ways, nothing wrong with them, as for vinyl getting caught up by cd's , have a look at sales figures lately, world wide that should answer your question, vinyl is far from dead, regards nando.

 

I have been wondering about the relative merits of each media format for some time. So I did a wee but of science. I recorded from vinyl (LP 12 BAsic plus and rega) to my computer (monitor audio delta 1010 software audacity) exported as a wav file then burnt a CD (Nero ) and played them back - Vinyll, Computer Direct and CD. To score them out of 10 the Vinyll got 10, Compuiter 8 and CD 6 - I guess I need a new CD player - dac or something - Perhaps things just got jumbled in the transfer. Incidently the best recording Ive heard to date is Muddy Waters - Folk Singer on vinyll - but Cds are a whole lot easier to use and wav files are too big for my hard drives ....

 

What record players have you got?

Get a decent cartridge (listen first) and make sure your phono stage is properly set up to match the cartidge. The more the adjustability of the phono stage the better. If you change impence loading on a moving coil phono then it almost acts like tone controls and changes the soundstage.

Don't record records onto CD as its too weird to even think about it it gives me shudders donw my spine. Oh no!! I can see those black boxes with red lights again!!!!! Think happy thoughts....


I use a dansette at home with my children I have 5 under the age of 10 and all have been taught how to use record players. I must mention they don't touch my SPJ Laluce on pain of death. I did have 6 children but then I found the tip taken off my VDH Colibri XM.... the Dr has it in for repair.

Good phono stages to try are the, ASR mini basis for £500 or the ultimate the Basis exclusive £3000. or the AQvox balanced phono for £500

As in the words of Simon at Absolut Analogue. "Get it right" !??

Thanks for turning up

 

surelly, you cannot be serious, it was out, cd's that is...:MILD:

 

maybe we are forgetting how old we are , and the pleasure of growing up with the likes of a wonderfull PYE BLACBOX as children , then that teenage wild thing era and the sweet smell of vinyl, how good it was that you could still hear those snap, crackle, and pops, in the kitchen, bliss on the front room, oh well, then and now.. nando.