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Can digitizing vinyl match CD?

I'm digitizing some of my vinyl so that it is transportable. I'll keep the LPs, but I just don't want to buy duplicates of the LPs on CD. I have some LPs not released on vinyl. I'll be sampling at either 48 or 96 bps.

Is it possible for digitizing vinyl to match or exceed commercial Red Book CDs?

Is the commercial process of CD production by definition superior to anything I could achieve since the studio master recordings are fewer generations removed from the original than my LPs would be?

Are my CBS Masterworks Series Digitally Remastered LPs already compromised (compared to original analog releases) because they've departed from the analog production cycle?

Or is it only possible to exceed CD quality if price is no object?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Craig
craig_c

Showing 3 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
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mapman
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Is it possible for digitizing vinyl to match or exceed commercial Red Book CDs?

Match, no. Exceed, maybe.

The results will sound different than any CD mastering in most cases. Could be better or could be worse or could just be a matter of preference. It will be different though almost without doubt.

It should sound pretty much like the vinyl itself did though if done well.
mapman's avatar
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mapman
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"Any benefit burning a redbood CD on the Masterlink to 24/88.2? Being the original source material is 16/44.1, is it that if it isn't already there, it won't make a difference?"

I would say no benefit. Adds overhead of larger files with no benefit.
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mapman
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If you want oversampling, then I would store the files at the native resolution because this is the most compact form to store in without loss, and then rely on a good oversampling DAC to do the oversampling constructively during playback.
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