How does vinyl compare to HD digital?
 

How does modern vinyl (probably recorded digitally in studio) compare to HD tracks, FLAC, and Tidal?

I get the vinyl vs CD debate, but I don't know how this applies if the analog Vinyl's source was digital anyway. I don't really know the sources, but I'll assume modern pop/indie/rock/alternative started out on a PC or a Mac.

I'm thinking of buying a record or two to go demo with at my local stores. Some of my favorite artists aren't sold in HD Tracks or FLAC, but they do have low quality itunes :no:, CDs, and LPs :scratch2:.

they are both good and compare well. Nothing beats HD digital ease of use and endless libraries. Vinyl sounds quite good as well when set up right however changing album sides every 15 to 20 minutes is a bit of a drag.

I like both and play both regularly, depending on my mood depends on which I choose.

Classical is noticeably better via HD as the quiet passages are indeed dead quiet. Mind you I have some very very nice pressings of classical performances which I love to spin after a long day at work.

One of the big benefits for myself with vinyl is I am learning a lot more and listening to a lot of new stuff which has greatly expanded my horizons due to the included materials with most albums coupled with the fact I am listening to artists I would not have normally made an effort to.

hope this helps

What's the point of listening to vinyl that was mastered from digital? Not only are you missing out on the whole point of listening to analog in the first place but chances are, with all the variables that go into setting up a great sounding vinyl rig, your final result is worse than it would be if you listened to that same music in digital.

If you've got a dialed-in vinyl rig and like the way it sounds, why not?

For me, I like the added distortion I get by playing digitally mastered vinyl. That, and the added inconvenience makes it a no-brainer. :)

Seriously, though, there is a certain enjoyment to be gained in the ritual of playing a vinyl record compared to playing a digital file. It doesn't have anything to do with the sound though.

If I hadn't been playing vinyl for 50 years and put together and uber-tweaked vinyl rig, there is no way I would start now. Modern DAC's are so good they eclipse all but the very best analog mastered vinyl.

My 5 year old son said it best: "Dad, could you play one of those big black CD's?"

Sure.

The first and last digital mastered vinyl I purchased were the Beatles and Rolling Stones. I did this because the vinyl was recorded from the 24 bit master not the 16 bit cd master hoping it would sound better than the cd version . The new masters had slightly better bass which sold me but in reality they both sound good so I hardly ever play the vinyl and they sit on the shelf with the rest of my vinyl collection . Since I purchased my D1100 and Aurender N100H I listen mostly to digital. A few weeks ago I did a short demo for someone and they asked to compare the tidal streaming version of blues song TinPan Alley to my vinyl version which is over 30 years old. The vinyl sounded better, imaging was much more palpable in depth and width, the digital streaming version was good but compare with vinyl was like a color filter over the lens of a camera in comparison to the vinyl. My point is I now buy vinyl that is recorded analog and remaster digital recordings I download or stream and skip buying on vinyl.

For me it comes down to the mastering process. Since the LP, CD and HiRez file are rarely mastered by the same person there can be differences that make any format sound better or worse. Generally the version (for the same album) that was mastered the best is what sounds the best regardless of what the media type is. One exception, and there may be others, is the Sheffield Lab D2D LP's. Since those are out of print now and there are no "copies" other than the "safety" analog tapes from the sessions, the Vinyl versions of those (if in good shape) tend to sound quite a bit better than the digitizations of the analog tape "safety" recordings.

Tom, I get the fun part. I also loved my brief vinyl phase with a few rather nice turntables such as the SME20/IV arm/DynavectorXX2 which sounded great with the analog master tape vinyl from Blue Note for example. I started buying more vinyl without paying attention and expanding my collection and noticed the sound was much worse on some, the analog smoothness and ease was absent. Of course they turned out to be the digital to vinyl transfers. Ehhh, no thanks. The vinyl industry simply got on the gravy train and It’s just another way to make you part with your money. Well I personally can’t be bothered going through all the cleaning rituals to listen to vinyl that sounds actually worse than digital itself because of mastering from digital to vinyl.

By far the most impressive sound are the newer recordings done natively in high resolution. When listening to the native resolution and not so much the upsampled version, I can finally see some real potential in digital. We will see more of it in the future.

As far as great vinyl? Well, there are only so many original master tapes left in storage vaults and most of them have already been done.

:thumbsup:

I agree with Serge, a lot of 'todays vinyl' is remastered from digital, makes no sense in my book.

enjoying the album cover / liner notes is one of the benefits of 'physical media'

amen to that, same with me !

5 year old son !! wow , you're a late bloomer !!

With all this being said...... my 7 year old grandson gave me for Christmas a very nice 'all' analog LP - Gillian Welch, 'The Harrow & the Harvest'