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Digital versus Vinyl - Grinnell College Review

Thinking about the appeal of Vinyl myself, but; currently have a digital only rig. I found this to be a very informative overview of the differences between Digital (CD's/Streaming) and Vinyl Record playback. Also inclined to give credibility to the subject knowing it was authored by...well....college students with no apparent bias.

http://thegrinnellpost.com/2015/05/01/a-technical-review-of-vinyl-records/

Mark
gocubs999
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
Somewhat tired debate that will go on indefinitely. Really about the convenience of digital vs purity of vinyl. Both have merits.

 
melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
I get tired of these debates as well, but for different reasons; mostly because of low enders who (to be frank) don't have the money to put a great cd player in there system, fully optimized to enable them to hear what great digital can do...
tbg
5,263 posts
 
I don't think streaming, cds, and cd players merit assessing relative to vinyl. Now is the time for DSD or even quad native DSD and down loads. I do have many ripped cds on my hard drive and playing them with upsampling that allows moving the filter well above human hearing, greatly improves the realism of these recordings.

I really don't understand why many would give up realism so they can have music 24/7.

melbguy1, I agree but it is also true of vinyl playback. I still have more invested in vinyl than in digital.

schubert
4,867 posts
 
I'd  read something from Grinnell , as good a liberal arts college as any in the US with very talented faculty and student body .
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
1,368 posts
 

I have a midrange SACD player, an Esoteric K-05, and I find myself putting on a cd to listen to while I do something else and then being drawn to my listening chair and listening for a couple of hours regularly.

If someone believes that all vinyl systems sound better than digital or that all digital systems sound better than vinyl, they are badly mistaken. 

Some people prefer vinyl and that's great.  Enjoy yourself.  But understand that unless you're at the state of the art, there are a lot of digital systems out there that sound better than your vinyl system and vice versa.

As far as convenience goes, there's no question that digital is much less work.  But that's not the only reason that people listen to it.  Digital can sound great.  And many vinyl people talk about liking vinyl because of the smell of the vinyl, the tweaking, the album artwork, etc.  Things that have nothing to do with sound.

So why can't we just say that both formats can sound great or not so great and not have to say that our preference is the best?


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