The real reason vinyls sometimes sound better than CDs
The vinyl vs. CD debate keeps cropping up, which I personally find annoying given that, objectively, CDs are the superior format. But, over time, I’ve come to realize that vinyl fanatics’ claims about the supposed audio quality of their beloved medium have less to do with objectivity and almost everything to do with subjectivity.
Vinyl doesn’t outperform CDs in fidelity, and never has.
So let’s start by eliminating the objective technical elements. CDs are, without question, of higher fidelity than vinyl pressings in every respect, and this is why.
CDs have a lot, a lot wider dynamic range. That is, the range of the softest and loudest sounds that the recording can capture. Vinyl recordings have a realistic dynamic range of between 55 and 70 dB compared to CDs which offer 90 to 96 dB. This may not seem like much, but remember that decibels are logarithmic. The subjective sound level doubles every 10 dB, so the difference is truly enormous. If we move beyond CDs and into high-fidelity audio, then even CDs blow out of the water, with 24-bit lossless music offering up to 144 dB of dynamic range.
The background noise on a CD is also considerably lower. This is the measurement of unwanted background noise due to signal distortion and other artifacts not present in the recording, which is easily detectable by ear on any vinyl recording, regardless of the quality of the equipment you are using. And no, you don’t need audiophile “golden ears” to know that. On a CD, background noise should be imperceptible, even with intermediate hardware, because there is virtually no unwanted noise coming from the media itself.
The fact is, if you used the exact same master for pressing vinyl and recording something on CD, the CD would clearly and obviously be closer to the original studio recording than the vinyl. However, this is exactly one key difference that could be responsible for the true perception sometimes that vinyls sound better.
Most “vinyl sounds better” comparisons aren’t really fair
The main reason why vinyl wins the subjective listening debates is simple: you generally don’t compare formats, you compare masters.
Mastering has to be done in a very particular way because of the limitations of the vinyl format when it comes to dynamic range, the amount of bass you can physically represent in the grooves.
With a digital copy, audio-savvy engineers can do just about anything they want within the limits of human hearing, and because of that, we’ve had a silly arms race known as the “volume war.”
Because CDs offer great dynamic range, producers began turning audio levels higher and higher to make their music stand out on the radio or in clubs. Finally, to make the music even louder, a technique known as dynamic range compressions was used to achieve even louder music, but at the expense of fidelity. Therefore, certain types of music may appear more distorted and compressed in the master CD than in the vinyl equivalent.
Today you’ll find plenty of digital music that has been properly digitally remastered to repair the damage caused by the loudness wars, but one lasting casualty is the idea that the forced conservative mastering of vinyl means that vinyl itself is the best format for fidelity.
Expectation bias does a lot of work
Human hearing is not a laboratory instrument. This is deeply influenced by context, beliefs and efforts.
As someone who studied psychology, I am aware of how we trust our senses wholeheartedly. We think of our eyes as cameras and our ears as microphones, but the truth is that we often see and hear what we expect, rather than what is actually there.
If you’re already expecting better sound from vinyl, this is what you’ll hear. There is Nothing This is not true, because ultimately your perception is your reality. Unfortunately, vinyl fans are often exploited, as are many AV enthusiasts in general, with expensive snake oil due to this tendency to hear what we want.
This is why blind testing is so important. It eliminates the effect of priming on our perception, and all things being equal in a blind test, vinyl is unlikely to come out on top.
Honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to the vinyl ritual. We feel artisanal To select the disc, turn on all your equipment, put the needle in and sit back to actually listen. It’s much more of a commitment to music than just opening an app and shuffling your favorite playlist.
Vinyl’s Flaws Are Familiar, and Familiarity Is Good
The final piece of the puzzle for me is that the very factors that make vinyl an objectively inferior recording format are what make people enjoy it. The hiss, the pops, the “warm” sound that comes from these analog defects.
The problem is, it’s just an illusion. If you made a lossless digital recording of a vinyl record, you wouldn’t be able to tell which is the original, because the digital version perfectly preserves these analog defects. Worse yet, any vinyl pressing done after digital studio recording and mastering is just an analog pressing of a digital master.
So any perceived problems with digital recordings should apply just as much to pressing this vinyl as they would to a digital medium. It’s not like inserting a digital audio waveform into analog media will suddenly restore the detail that vinyl fanatics claimed was lost, after all.
I’m not here to tell anyone what they should do with their free time or how they should enjoy music. As long as you enjoy it, that’s really all that matters. What I have a problem with is spreading lies to justify this hobby, which could end up misleading people who are into it. In fact searching for the best audio fidelity and leading them into an expensive and inconvenient dead end.
