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Which do you prefer, the sound of a vinyl record or that of a CD? It is a topic that has spurred many a heated debate…
While we won’t argue your preference, when discussing which format sounds better from a technical perspective, there is a clear winner.
In today’s video, Disc Makers CEO Tony van Veen discusses which format delivers superior sound by addressing a number of key factors, including:
- Dynamic range - Volume - Bass - Analog warmth - Player environment - Wear
If you’re an artist interested in sounding your best on physical media, you’ll want to check it out.
Still not sure if you want to put out your music on CD or Vinyl? Why not give your fans both! https://www.discmakers.com/products/vinyl-cd-jacket-bundle.asp
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While vinyl may be preferred subjectively by many listeners, CDs are technically superior across nearly all measurable audio dimensions including dynamic range, volume consistency, bass reproduction, and resistance to wear.
- CDs support up to 96dB dynamic range versus vinyl's limited range due to noise floor constraints
- Vinyl grooves must be shallower and closer together for longer recordings, reducing maximum volume and dynamic range
- Digital audio at 44.1kHz sampling provides adequate fidelity while vinyl cannot reproduce deep bass without playback risks
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There is a much larger quality difference between low-end and high-end vinyl turntables (affecting stylus, cartridge, tone arm, motor, and electronics) compared to the quality difference between low-end and high-end CD players.
“there is a much wider difference in playback quality based on the player when we're talking vinyl compared to when we're talking CD player. A well-pressed record played on an entry-level Crosley turntable will not sound as good as one played on an audiophile turntable. There are so many factors at play here, the quality of the stylus cartridge, the tone arm, the motor that drives the RPM of the turntable, the electronics. Many people today play their music on lower price turntables, and that does not help your records sound their best. There is a large difference in quality between low-end and high-end turntables. With CD players, there is much less of a quality difference.”
Modern CD masters are technically capable of wide dynamic range up to 96dB, but record labels and mastering studios intentionally compress modern music to be loud from start to finish, narrowing the available dynamic range by choice rather than technical limitation.
“before you wag your finger at me and tell me 'CD masters nowadays are so loud because of the compression and the limiting that their dynamic range is actually quite narrow,' I will tell you, yes. You are a hundred percent correct, but that is done by choice. Today's record labels and mastering studios have trained a generation of music fans to prefer music that is loud from start to finish. However, the available dynamic range of the CD, think a classical piece that has really quiet and really loud parts, is actually quite large.”
CD dynamic range reaches as much as 96 decibels, which is higher than vinyl records due to vinyl's inherent noise floor that prevents quiet passages from being reproduced below a certain threshold without being lost in surface noise.
“The CD, which is a digital medium, has a wide dynamic range of as much as 96 decibels, which is a higher dynamic range than that of a vinyl record. This is partly driven by the fact that a vinyl record has a so-called 'noise floor.'”
Disc Makers will not accept MP3 masters for vinyl cutting because MP3 compression makes no sense for the vinyl medium, whereas 16-bit 44.1kHz masters are acceptable though not ideal.
“we occasionally get clients sending us MP3 masters, and well, that's where we draw the line. We will ask those clients to send in a higher resolution recording, because it makes no sense to cut a record from a compressed MP3 file.”
Vinyl records with longer programs (over 19-20 minutes per side on a 12-inch LP) require grooves to be shallower and closer together due to the fixed physical diameter, which reduces maximum volume and further lowers dynamic range compared to shorter-sided records.
“With a vinyl record, a louder record means your grooves have to be deeper, and they need to be farther apart. That means that a record can only have the maximum volume if the side of your LP is no longer than 18 or maybe 19 minutes of music. If you have over 19-20 minutes of music on one side, the mastering engineer is going to have to start making adjustments in how they cut the lacquers, because a longer program on the same 12-inch diameter means the record needs to accommodate more grooves. Well, it needs a longer groove, of course. That means less space between the grooves, which means the grooves need to be shallower, which means lower volume.”
Vinyl mastering requires engineers to make compromises including compression, limiting, and EQ reduction of low frequencies to prevent stylus skipping, which is caused by grooves touching or partially overlapping (cross-cuts) when bass content is too deep.
“final mastering generally involves making some compromises in how the record sounds, which frequently includes some compression, some limiting, and some EQ to reduce low frequencies a bit. As you can see here in this video, our mastering engineers look at the grooves of every record they cut, through a microscope, to make sure that they don't touch, or partially overlap, known as a 'cross cut,' which will cause a record to skip”
Vinyl hip-hop and rap records with super-deep bass cannot reproduce the low frequencies present in digital recordings because the depth and vibration of grooves required would create playback risks.
“Some of today's music, hip-hop and rap especially, includes some super low bass sounds. You've heard it right? Well, vinyl cannot come close to replicating some of those super deep bass sounds that you can hear in digital recordings.”
Record noise floor increases as records age and wear out, narrowing the effective dynamic range further through accumulation of surface degradation and groove wear.
“that noise floor can actually get higher as a record ages and wears out, and the ticks and pops that come with an older record, while they can be charming, will appear to narrow the dynamic range of a record even more.”
Vinyl records gradually wear out with physical playback, and accumulated dust particles attracted to static generate pops and ticks that narrow the effective dynamic range, whereas properly handled CDs experience no wear and sound identical on the first and thousandth playback.
“Since there is physical contact between the stylus and the groove, a record gradually wears out the more you play it. This impacts the sound of the record and the dynamic range. Add in some dust particles, attracted to the static, and you have some pops and ticks. You may love them, because you love vinyl, but in a perfect listening environment they're not supposed to be there. The CD, of course if handled properly does not experience wear and tear like a vinyl record. It will sound as good that one thousandth time that you play it as it did the first time you played it.”
The surface noise heard in vinyl lead-in and lead-out grooves (the 'noise floor') is inherent to the vinyl format and represents the baseline below which quiet passages cannot be reproduced without becoming inaudible.
“If you don't know what I'm talking about with the 'noise floor,' the surface noise that creates the 'noise floor' is basically the sound you can hear when your stylus is playing in the lead-in or the lead-out groove of the record.”
The concept of 'analog warmth' is based on the theoretical smoothness of analog sound waves compared to the discrete ones and zeros of digital audio, though van Veen personally has not been able to hear it and admits he lacks the 'Golden Ears' sensitivity to such nuances.
“The whole concept of 'analog warmth' comes from the fact that vinyl is an analog medium, and that analog sound waves are smooth, as opposed to the ones and zeros in digital music, which can't fully replicate the smoothness of an analog sound wave. And, according to some folks, you can actually hear the difference in a way that makes the vinyl record sound warmer than a CD. Is 'analog warmth' real? Probably, though I'll have to admit that I personally have never been able to hear it, but then again I'm by no means one of those Golden Ears who can hear such nuance.”
While CD digital-to-analog (DA) converters vary in quality between low-end and high-end players, the audible differences are much less pronounced than the differences in vinyl turntable quality.
“While there are certainly differences in the quality of the DA converters, the digital to analog converters, between low-end and high-end CD players, the audible differences between a lower-end and a high-end CD player are much less than between a lower-end and a high-end turntable.”
Digital audio at 44.1 kilohertz sampling rate (44,100 samples per second) is sufficient to create natural-sounding audio waves that fully replicate analog sound waves, contrary to the argument that digital sampling creates audible artifacts.
“the digital sampling rate of a CD of 44.1 kilohertz means that there are 44,100 samples per second of any piece of audio, and that my friend, is plenty enough to make a natural sounding audio wave.”
A 24-bit, 96 kilohertz sampling rate is more than twice as high as the standard CD rate (16-bit, 44.1 kilohertz) and will yield the best results for vinyl cutting to approximate analog sound quality.
“if you want your digital recording to sound as analog as possible, for pressing on vinyl, start with the highest possible sample rate. A 24-bit, 96 kilohertz sampling rate is more than twice as high as the standard for CDs and will yield the best results for vinyl cutting.”
Most LPs currently released are recorded digitally to start, which means the 'analog warmth' benefit only applies if the entire production process from multi-tracking through mixing is analog using open reel tape, a process that is now extremely rare in modern studios.
“most LPs currently released are recorded digitally to start. If you believe in the 'analog warmth' argument, that only works if your whole process is analog, starting with multi-tracking, and mixing down on open reel analog tape. Now, I don't remember when we last got an open reel master for an album here at Disc Makers, although we can still accept them.”
The aesthetic and ritualistic aspects of vinyl—the 12x12 inch album art, the physical handling, the ritual of dropping the stylus—contribute significantly to why records remain the physical medium of choice for many music fans, beyond technical sound quality considerations.
“Add in the aesthetics of the record, the ritual of handling the record, and carefully dropping the stylus, and admiring that 12-inch by 12-inch album art, it is clear why records are the physical medium of choice for many a music fan.”
When comparing purely technical aspects, CDs sound better than vinyl records, and this conclusion is confirmed by most mastering and recording engineers who post on professional forums.
“if we look purely at the technical aspects, CDs sound better than records. There you have it, you just can't argue the facts. And, if you were to go to recording and mastering forums online, you would find that most mastering and recording engineers would confirm this.”
A well-recorded, well-mastered vinyl record, if properly cared for and played on good equipment, can sound amazing despite being technically inferior to CDs.
“That doesn't mean that a record can't sound better to you, the sound we prefer, each of us, is extremely personal. A well-recorded, well-mastered record, if properly cared for and played on good equipment, can sound amazing.”
CD quality can be achieved from 16-bit 44.1kHz masters and will sound fine, though higher resolution masters are preferable and should not be abandoned as a strategy to deliver 'analog warmth.'
“We will certainly also cut lacquers from a 16-bit 44.1 kilohertz master, and they sound fine, but you probably don't want to count on that 'analog warmth.'”
Sound preference is extremely personal and each listener's preference should be respected regardless of technical facts, establishing that personal listening preference is legitimate even when contradicted by objective measurements.
“I want to start by stating that the preferences for the sound of any one format over another is completely personal. If you love the sound of vinyl better than the sound of a CD, or vice versa, who am I to argue with what you like.”
van Veen explicitly disclaims expertise in audio engineering while asserting sufficient knowledge to discuss analog and digital audio technology substantively.
“I am not an audio engineer, or even an audio expert, but I do know enough to be dangerous about analog and digital audio technology.”