Best sound quality...CD or Vinyl?

Answer 1

Having been the owner of 600 plus vinyls before my dumb *** decided to sell them, I would have to say vinyl. The frequency range was better on albums than on cd. Granted, the cds don't have the popping noises of albums, but you get a richer bass and better midrange out of vinyls. My youngest brother and I actually did a test on that a few years ago. Vinyls won out.

Answer 2

A digital recording like on a CD is only capturing pieces of a sound wave, although those pieces can be tens of thousands of times per second so that the average person can barely hear the difference. A vinyl recording, at least one that isn't scratched/dusty/etc., mirrors the entire original soundwave.

It can be mathematically shown (through the shannon-nyquist theorem) that a bandlimited signal like that on CDs being sampled at a rate higher than twice the bandwidth can be recorded perfectly, which means that cds sampled at 44.1khz can recover an original signal up to 22.05 khz identically so that it's not the "series of steps" like normal. The upper bound of human hearing is about 20k so that's really all you need.

In reality, when it comes to the soundwave, you can't really tell a difference between the two unless you are an extreme audiophile. A lot of people say that vinyl sounds "warmer" and it sort of does, but that's just because it's full of third harmonic distortion. Vinyl does have more of a "full body" sound so it can be seen as better.

So to answer your question... technically, vinyl may have better sound quality, but it gets scratched and ruined easier than CDs. The major difference would be the "warmth" of vinyls where many claim that music is more "alive" and that vinyls have a bit more bass (which is one reason why it's more popular with DJs and in clubs). CDs are compressed and sound a little flatter without the same "warmth" if you are used to it.

Personally, I prefer vinyl. I like the warmer sound.

Answer 3

Vinyl is better, but you have to have a VERY good turntable.
CD's are digital, which means that every thing is stored in binary, either 1 or 0. Vinyl is totally analogue so stores everything EXACTLY as it is.
CD's by their nature cannot compete sound wise, also they do not store things above and below certain thresholds. Human ears cannot detect that anyway so it is a tad mute.
This is partly why computers cannot emulation the human brain as well. Binary is just too restrictive.
I read a fiction book once where a computer was made which uses light instead, so it wasn't just off or on, like binary, it varied in colour and brightness giving an almost infinate state. Slightly off track, but highlights the same principle.

CD's do give good quality for lower price systems, and are more robust than vinyl, so for the money are a better option.

Answer 4

Good question...! I remember Neil Young once said "if you've listened to one CD..you've listened to them all..!" He's got a point, there does seem to be a uniformity about the sound of CD reproduction and how it replicated sound..despite the efforts of producers to inject the warm analogue depth inherent in Vinyl recordings. DJ and Dance musicians buy sample Cd's of 'pops, whizz and crackles' to compliment the clinical feel of modern hi-spec recording techniques. Ironically we've turned full circle. I think our ears get desensitised to the 44.1 sample rate and become fatigued, whereas vinyl is more able to overdrive the sonic headroom of listening capability. Basically theirs more peaks and dips in the audio stream to keeps us listening. However all of this is dependant on your Hi-Fi quality, amp and speakers..but I do think many of us dismissed 'Old Vinyl' too soon when CD came along..and regret it!

Answer 5

vinyl seems to have a better range whereas CD seems to be set within boundaries. This is escpecially apparent on the top end where CD's seem to be capped. So Id say vinyl is best

Answer 6

I've never heard vinyl, but some say that they like the quality better because that is what they grew up on. i would think CD would have better sound because of the technology and everything

Answer 7

Vinyl of course! Vinyl has a more natural sound and also the bass is always much nicer of a vinyl than a CD.

Even with the reasonably high sample rate of a CD, digitising an analogue signal always has some loss, however small it is.

Answer 8

Actually that is pretty much up to whatever system you are using to play either with.
Using a high end sound system i had rather better sound from a vinyl (scratchfree and clean of course) than from a cd.
but that is my personal opinion.
on regular systems the cd beats vinyl any time.

Answer 9

I personally love the sound of vinyl.

Answer 10

CD creates clearer sharper sound than vinyl, but vinyl has that something about it which makes it sound great!