One Last Note on Vinyl
A couple of weeks ago there was a discussion in the Albums forum about vinyl and CD. I forgot to mention a couple of things in more detail, such as the frequency response of vinyl versus CD. Most masters of records used various equalization techniques to alleviate the poor frequency response of vinyl. CD does not have these limitations of frequency response and other issues such as hiss, popping, crackle, and more. So, in general, well mastered tracks will sound better on CD than on vinyl. The problem is that most tracks are mastered worse on CD than vinyl. This is where the misconception starts. Through a game of telephone, the fact that tracks are worse mastered on CD gets bended to the misconception that vinyl is better at reproducing sound than CD. So, while you can say that you like the way that vinyl sounds better than CD and how you like the experience, you have a problem when you start to get into the objective terriorty when you start to say that vinyl is better than CD.
Rant over.
1000%. It’s more mastering and mixing than actual sound quality. There’s an audible difference between the kinds of mastering between the formats – people aren’t bullshitting when they say vinyl sounds warmer in some way – but, at the end of the day, the best compliment I’ve ever given a standard vinyl pressing to this day is that it sounds as new as a CD.
180 gram vinyl though? That’s for keeps. You have to shell out for that but if it’s a favorite album of yours it’s worth the money.