[quote user="jimwall"]Sorry, but since the theoretical signal to noise of CD is better than 100dB and the best you're ever likely to get from LP is about 50dB, there's no possible option but to assume that LP blows the socks off CD every time. Or am I missing something?
Ah yes, I'm missing my Sondek, I must go and remind it that I love it...
Sad? Yes. But also somehow sweet.[/quote]
While I'd agree a properly mastered CD (by a band with talent) on a CD player that cost X quid will sound better than an LP of the same music played on a turntable that cost X quid...
But you are missing something. See what happens to a square wave on a CD. Moreover, CD's are incapable of storing more than 22050 hz and when you try and store a frequency that is higher, you get aliasing, something that doesn't exist on an analogue format. Also, CD's tend to have a lot more compression in the recording, to make full use of the CD's bit depth which doesn't reduce the 'quality' of the music, per say, but IMO too much compression in an audio track just makes the music 'worse' from a artistic appreciation viewpoint. It becomes a wall of sound, rather than something with depth and extra intricacies and details that a decent hifi allows you to enjoy. LP's also use compression I might add.
CD sounds better IMO, but both formats have drawbacks to their sound (rumble and scratch filters, LMAO) but, importantly, they are *different* drawbacks.