Why Vinyl Sounds Better Than CD
Many people know vinyl sounds better. Not many know why. Learn the science behind it.
Some people have a bit of an obsession with vinyl. It could just be because they think it is vintage and therefore cool. They could just be old school and not want to move on. On the other hand, they could just be complete audiophiles and love their music that much.
Most people understand that vinyl sounds better then CD’s and other modern digital equivalents such as DVD, mp3 and other software based recordings. However, the actual reasons why it sounds better are not so widely known. At first glance it might seem a bit complicated but it is in fact quite simple.
It basically comes down to the difference between analog and digital signals. Analog, by definition, is a continuously variable signal. This means that changes in frequency are reproduced by a smooth wave. Basically, this means that a change in frequency between two points will occur by moving through the complete range in between them. The result accurately sounds out every tiny change.
In order to encode a similar signal onto digital media such as a CD or DVD, a conversion from analog to digital is required. It does not matter how good the conversion is, there will always be losses which occur through the transition. Technology may get better and better, reducing these losses but it is effectively impossible (at least in modern times), to perfectly reproduce an analog signal on digital media. Take the previous example of a progressive change between two frequency values. This time, what we have is a series of discrete changes between them. Imagine if you were told to sing from as low as you can up to as high you can using only three different tones. You would be forced to sing low, medium and then high. This is a very extreme example, but shows what is meant by discrete steps. Better technology would allow you to use more frequencies, say 5 times. Now you have a closer reproduction of the original smooth variant.
The human ear is able to detect changes in frequency smaller then what can reproduced by current technology, and therefore a trained ear can easily tell the difference between analog and digital signals. This is precisely why vinyl sounds better than CD (sorry for the long winded reason, but it’s the only way to explain it!. We haven’t even got to the point of software level encoding. MP3’s and other files incur yet another layer of losses which further reduces the quality in audio. Listen to a vinyl record after an equivalent mp3 and if you can’t tell the difference, there might be something wrong with you! Just kidding, but there is a very clear difference. There are certain audio formats such as FLAC, which are higher resolution digital encodings, but this is when compared with a CD track. Essentially, it is still digital, and still does not replicate the sound in the same way as a live performance or a vinyl record.
Now you know why a vinyl record is that much better then any digital equivalent from the scientific side of things. I didn’t even mention their inherited greatness just for being a vintage item!
Jimmy Red – Engineer and Audiophile. Find some awesome vinyl records for sale here. Or maybe just do me a favor and check out my site on high protein snacks.
