CD VS TURNTABLE SETUP COST

[iMark]

It is interesting that some of the posters in the current Audiophile/aftermarket power cables. Surely they make a difference?? thread are impassioned disbelievers in the notion that power cables can make a difference because science says they cannot, and yet some of those same people are ardently dogmatic that vinyl is more dynamic and less compressed than CD, inspite of the scientific impossibility of it being so.

I don't think we would have a discussion about CDs being 'better' than LPs if the record companies wouldn't have started selling us over-compressed music on CD. It's ridiculous that there are so many bad sounding CDs on the market. At the same time, in a parellel universe, wonderful classical CDs are being released. I have hundreds of good classical LPs from the 1960s till 1980s that I inherited from my parents. I still play them. But some new releases on CD (or SACD) are simply stunning and show how good digital recording can be in the hands of good producers and engineers. The complete lack of tape hiss or background noise makes the humble CD a much better medium for classical music than the LP.

 

[lindsayt]

If you can hear what you believe to be dynamic compression on the Adele 25 CD then you've probably bought a CDP (DAC) that is well below the standard that you could have bought for one tenth of the price. *biggrin*
Seriously though the facts are clear that there is far less information on a record than on a CD, The LF is cut in mono on a record for a start! I just don't think the formats are on the same level and are so far apart that comparison is follie.

EDIT: In fact I always have a little chuckle to myself when reviewers suggest the latest £8000 DAC is the most vinyl like yet. So you mean it is noisy, compressed and missing loads of information then? This is just marketing shizzle designed to sell digital to stick in the muds. As per my previous comments the two should not be compared the difference in quality is so vast in bias of the CD, which going back to the OP is why it costs so much to attain anything even approaching parity.

Yeah, maybe I should have bought a CD player for £1.50 instead of £15

Please feel free to tell me what I should have bought for £1.50?

Something that can do a Lazarus raising of the dead miracle to make my Adele CD's sound anything but grossly over-compressed.

On Jethro Tull's Broadsword and the Beast, it's the vinyl version that has more resolution than the CD version - in my system to my ears. The CD version sounds like the vinyl version except that someone's gone on a Fantastic Journey incredible shrinking ray and then jumped into the vinyl grooves and scrubbed away all the low level detail with a scouring pad. Resulting in the vinyl version sounding more like real people playing real instruments instead of clumsy ogres playing giant sized instruments with their thumbs.

Nevertheless, the difference between vinyl and CD is small enough that the format with the better mastering of any particular single or album will sound better overall.

Therefore it makes sense for anyone into recorded music in a big way to have both formats and to try to buy whatever version has the best mastering.

As for the Gadget Show it only costs so much to get a decent vinyl source IF you buy brand new Klimax level from a Linn dealer. I am not aware of anyone on this forum that would be so mis-informed as to do that.

 

[Gazzip]

Yes, you can get a decent vinyl sound for a low price, but to get anywhere near the resolution of CD with it you are in to mega bucks. LF on vinyl is mono and HF on vinyl is heavily compressed. If your turntables are picking up more LF resolution than your CD players then you may want to check the formers motors are isolated properly or perhaps oil the spindle bearings. *pardon*

 

[lindsayt]

Yes, you can get a decent vinyl sound for a low price, but to get anywhere near the resolution of CD with it you are in to mega bucks. LF on vinyl is mono and HF on vinyl is heavily compressed. If your turntables are picking up more LF resolution than your CD players then you may want to check the formers motors are isolated properly or perhaps oil the spindle bearings. *pardon*

Most of my CD's have the bass drum and bass guitars recorded right in the centre of the soundstage. It's become a convention to do it that way, with the vocalist centre stage too and guitars on the far left or right.. I don't see the more mono bass of vinyl as a big deal.

£500 is enough to get you a vinyl source that will sound better than CD where you have mastering that is superior on the vinyl format. £3500 is enough to buy you a World Class vinyl source - without relying on once in a lifetime right place right place lucky finds.

 

[Gazzip]

Yes, you can get a decent vinyl sound for a low price, but to get anywhere near the resolution of CD with it you are in to mega bucks. LF on vinyl is mono and HF on vinyl is heavily compressed. If your turntables are picking up more LF resolution than your CD players then you may want to check the formers motors are isolated properly or perhaps oil the spindle bearings. *pardon*

Most of my CD's have the bass drum and bass guitars recorded right in the centre of the soundstage. It's become a convention to do it that way, with the vocalist centre stage too and guitars on the far left or right.. I don't see the more mono bass of vinyl as a big deal.

£500 is enough to get you a vinyl source that will sound better than CD where you have mastering that is superior on the vinyl format. £3500 is enough to buy you a World Class vinyl source - without relying on once in a lifetime right place right place lucky finds.

Possibly because the low frequency needs to be centred below 90hz (sometimes as high as 300hz) for vinyl production. I guess this would make the LF soundstage the sound the same for cd and vinyl, regardless of stereo/mono presentation? However it wouldn't be, but hey stereo is an illusion anyway so who really cares.

 

[Oldphrt]

I seem to remember that Flying by the Beatles has the bass on one channel only.

 

[MajorFubar]

I seem to remember that Flying by the Beatles has the bass on one channel only.

Correct. Lots of recordings from that era had bass on just one channel on the stereo mix. On Beatles albums, certainly all the stereo mixes of their first two albums* have usually the instruments on one side and vocals on the other. Even from AHDN onwards, it was still not unknown to mix the bass on one side.

*Love Me Do, From Me To You and She Loves You are exceptions. They're always presented in mono or fake stereo. No true stereo mix of those songs exist, basically because EMI re-used the multitrack tapes before any stereo mixes were made.

 

[bubobubo]

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