Why Vinyl Is Better Than Cds

Maybe it was coincidence but vinyl began its resurgence at around the same time as recordings started this trend.

Why vinyl is better than cds.

You ll also hear vinyl enthusiasts discussing the warm sound they get from their record players. There are built in problems with using vinyl as a data encoding mechanisms that have no cd equivalent. Vinyl is in a resurgence of course with records outselling cds for the first time in almost three decades. Digital got its act together but not until the death of the cd.

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. Cds on the other hand have been on the decline. 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. A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings.

It didn t used to be this way which is part of what made collecting used vinyl in the 90s and early aughts such a gas. 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. 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. Cds can handle over 90 db.

Cds are now cheaper than lps. 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. Original sound is analog by definition.

It s for this reason that vinyl sounds better than digital. But this article isn t focused on why cds are better than vinyl. The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. What is perplexing is that when the eventual resurgence of high quality audio came it wasn t via a glorious return of the compact disc but rather a hipster fueled vinyl record revolution.

The vinyl format can generate other issues. Cds give you more bang for the buck. The simplest is to make a record that plays faster.