Does Rock Music Sound Better On Vinyl?

OutlawPete · 04-01-2010 11:07AM #1

Only a few hours left of The Classic Rock Forum, so ...

Just one more question to be asked:

Does Rock Music Sound Better On Vinyl? or are CDs better?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmiHgxipykI

egan007 · 04-01-2010 11:09AM

These are all in wav

Paul McCartney was asked once if he preferred the original vinyl recordings of the Beetles or the new 'digitally remastered'. He said that when they recorded it in a very expensive studio the sound was perfect so that's the way he prefers to listen to it - thought that was a very good point.

I think what's more important then the media is the quality of the playback device and speakers.

Mushy · 04-01-2010 11:11AM

From recent experience of Them CrookedVultures...yes, yes it does. Feel the bass!

MaybeLogic · 04-01-2010 11:11AM

Gramaphone is where it's at.
Vinyl is best though,has a tangible feel to the sound.

OutlawPete · 04-01-2010 11:16AM

egan007 wrote: »

These are all in wav

These vids are just to listen to as you ponder the thread and also so that the kids can see what Vinyl looks like

AnonoBoy · 04-01-2010 11:19AM

Personally I'm all about the phonautograph myself.

Beasty · 04-01-2010 11:19AM

Vinyl is better, but only if you have decent turntable and amp.

Tom-eg · 04-01-2010 12:09PM

Vinyl has a very good bass response compared to cd's so provided that you have a good system set up and every link in the chain is strong, vinyl will sound better.

By the way them videos are not in .wav format. Everything on the internet is compressed. Mp3's are compressed as well. I can't understand why mp3's are so popular. There is, on average, about a tenth of the data in an mp3 file compared to if it was uncompressed. They are clever and they do trick the ear so that it percieves good quality but they just don't cut it for me. There is too much left out of mp3's for me to enjoy them.

I don't use vinyl but i do enjoy good quality. I have a nice set up with my computer. I use .flac files for music (full quality files) and i have a nice soundcard and high quality monitors. Whatever about vinyl you can still get great sound. I'd stay away from mp3's if you're looking for good quality though. Stick with cd's or rip them as .flac files (you may need a special media player to play them). Vinyl is great but you can still get good quality music other ways. Just stay away from mp3's :P

Run_to_da_hills · 04-01-2010 12:12PM

Beasty wrote: »

Vinyl is better, but only if you have decent turntable and amp.

Technics 1210's MK2's all the way.

Magic Eight Ball · 04-01-2010 12:19PM

At least with vinyl you feel like your getting something for your money. CD's are poxy & besides, analog just sounds better.

topper75 · 04-01-2010 12:25PM

Analog v digital - it's like the Mona Lisa versus a digital photo of the Mona Lisa. Vinyl is worth it.

Don't sample (or worse - compress) my waves!

mike65 · 04-01-2010 12:30PM

Vinyl always sounds better, the problem apart from the quality of the gear is the thickness of the pressing. Anyone who stayed loyal to LPs will know how from the late 80s/early 90s the vinyl got progressivly thinner as the albums were getting longer. A double whammy of badness robbing the music of the sonic depth and loudness.

I'm guessing that as LPs and singles are now a boutique product the quality is now actually much better.

Wazdakka · 04-01-2010 12:34PM

Beasty wrote: »

Vinyl is better, but only if you have decent turntable and amp.

So true..
I stuck together my old modular hifi system again a few weeks back and thought I'd get the turntable working on it.

I've got a fairly good quality amp and speakers but still..
:eek:
War of the worlds blows me away every time.
It sounds wayyyy better on vinyl.

bnt · 04-01-2010 12:58PM

None of the above. Record an album through valve processors and an old Neve console to multitrack tape, mix it to stereo 1/2 inch tape at 30 inches/second, then send me the master, if you don't mind? :cool:

biko · 04-01-2010 01:20PM

Grew up on vinyl but must say I prefer CDs, sound is crisp and none of the "extra" vinyl sounds at the start or the end.
Also, I can just wipe the CDs off after a party rather than trying to get all kinds of **** off with a rag from the vinyl.
Actually now it's all mp3s (I

progress).

komodosp · 04-01-2010 01:37PM

I think it depends on the music... For mellow music like Pink Floyd or Mike Oldfield, I would prefer vynil, has a warmer feel to it... This feeling you would want to avoid, however, if you're listening to hard-hitting music like Guns N Roses or Sepultura or someone.

Problem with vynil is that it takes very little to ruin them... And you have to get up to change the side... And any bit of dancing at all (e.g. at a party) and the needle jumps.

Anyway, AFAIK, for any extra quality there might be in the vynil record over a CD, the human ear isn't capable of hearing it anyway... Dogs might prefer vynil. But for we humans, it's like complaining about the pixelisation of a digital photo over a film one, even though the pixels are way to small to see.

Run_to_da_hills · 04-01-2010 01:45PM

Use Serato Scratch Live. and have the best of both worlds.

Ciaran500 · 04-01-2010 01:51PM

Mushy wrote: »

From recent experience of Them CrookedVultures...yes, yes it does. Feel the bass!

Alot of the times the mix on the vinyl is different to the CD mix so the vinyl might sound better just cause of that. Especially considering it was probably recorded digitally anyway.

Dravokivich · 04-01-2010 02:08PM

Got found memories of listening to the "Bat out of Hell" album on Vinyl as a kid...

adds a bit of character alright to it alright...

- Drav!

OutlawPete · 04-01-2010 02:16PM

Dravokivich wrote: »

Got found memories of listening to the "Bat out of Hell" album on Vinyl as a kid...

adds a bit of character alright to it alright...

- Drav!

Did you sit on the edge of your bed pretending to rev a motorbike??

Just me then

Dravokivich · 04-01-2010 02:22PM

OutlawPete wrote: »

Did you sit on the edge of your bed pretending to rev a motorbike??

Just me then

Who ever didn't should be shot on site man! :pac:

- Drav!

Herbal Deity · 04-01-2010 02:24PM

Tom-eg wrote: »

By the way them videos are not in .wav format. Everything on the internet is compressed. Mp3's are compressed as well. I can't understand why mp3's are so popular. There is, on average, about a tenth of the data in an mp3 file compared to if it was uncompressed. They are clever and they do trick the ear so that it percieves good quality but they just don't cut it for me. There is too much left out of mp3's for me to enjoy them.

Are you even aware that the word "mp3" tells you nothing about the quality of the file?

Are you also aware that the amount of data in a file tells you nothing about its quality either?

Ever heard of v0 VBR mp3s?

Too much effort to bother explaining...

The only use for FLAC these days is for archiving purposes.

Dravokivich · 04-01-2010 02:29PM

Herbal Deity wrote: »

Are you even aware that the word "mp3" tells you nothing about the quality of the file?

Are you also aware that the amount of data in a file tells you nothing about its quality either?

Ever heard of v0 VBR mp3s?

Too much effort to bother explaining...

The only use for FLAC these days is for archiving purposes.

Do you know about the Hz sample rates for CD's?

you can record harmonics of higher frequencies on Analogue / Vinyl that just gets chopped out on Digital / CD...

this can be proven by recording a dog whistle in both analogue and digital.

You won't get as effective playback on a CD.

And even though you don't really hear it Conciously.. you are aware of those high end harmonics... they do be missed

- Drav!

Ciaran500 · 04-01-2010 02:40PM

Dravokivich wrote: »

And even though you don't really hear it Conciously.. you are aware of those high end harmonics... they do be missed

So you don't hear them, but you do really?

Herbal Deity · 04-01-2010 02:49PM

Dravokivich wrote: »

Do you know about the Hz sample rates for CD's?

you can record harmonics of higher frequencies on Analogue / Vinyl that just gets chopped out on Digital / CD...

this can be proven by recording a dog whistle in both analogue and digital.

You won't get as effective playback on a CD.

And even though you don't really hear it Conciously.. you are aware of those high end harmonics... they do be missed

- Drav!

But I wasn't talking about CD vs Vinyl...

Dravokivich · 04-01-2010 02:58PM

Herbal Deity wrote: »

But I wasn't talking about CD vs Vinyl...

But you are talking about MP3's which are ripped from CD's... you can't get higher resolution then the source...

- Drav!

Herbal Deity · 04-01-2010 03:11PM

FLACs are ripped from CDs too...

I was responding to someone who claimed that mp3s were never good quality.

re: vinyl, I'm undecided. I really think that a lot of the "higher quality" is a case of "Emperor's New Clothes". I've always liked listening to things on vinyl, but I reckon most people with vinyl players also happen to have very fine tuned sound systems which sound awesome, because that's what they're into. I don't think the fact that the medium is vinyl has much to do with it.

Executive Steve · 04-01-2010 03:20PM

Doesn't really matter much for rock music since most of it is just a whole heap of distorted mid-range and drums really... Anything with big heavy basslines and sparse percussion sounds much better on vinyl, it's no accident that any reggae sound system you see will be using records, nor that the dubstep community and the drum & bass community are still very much vinyl based, and that's before you even consider the more tactile level of control you get with a record based interface.

On the other hand, the number of venues you go to where the management spend enough time and money maintaining the record players and the signal paths to the speakers as well as they look after the (far less maintenance-intensive) CD turntables is shrinking by the day...

mambo · 04-01-2010 05:12PM

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Alot of the times the mix on the vinyl is different to the CD mix so the vinyl might sound better just cause of that. Especially considering it was probably recorded digitally anyway.

Indeed. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war for example...

Patricide · 04-01-2010 06:17PM

When I was doing a sound engineering course they brought in one song on various different formats.

96kbps mp3, 320kbps mp3, A Cassette, A CD, and a 180 gram vinyl. The difference was shocking. The amount of bass and clarity the vinyl had over pretty much any of them was hugely noticeable.

For anyone who thinks that mp3's are just as good try that test and come back to me. Vinyl is the past, but also the future. Its making a pretty big comeback I think. The only problem is finding a decent player these days, I know you can get dj decks and a a power amp speaker combination but if theres any hope of a vinyl comeback there will have to be decent players readily available for the masses.

topper75 · 04-01-2010 06:29PM

Patricide wrote: »

if theres any hope of a vinyl comeback there will have to be decent players readily available for the masses.

great point

It's not easy locating a good player in provincial Ireland these days.

One thing potentially holding back vinyl's resurgence is those nasty cheap plastic turntables. Forget about them - spend another 100 or 150 to get something like a Debut Project III.

Cloney's in Blackrock Dublin and Munster Sounds in Cork seem to be the only stockists in the south.

Does Rock Music Sound Better On Vinyl?

Does Rock Music Sound Better On Vinyl? 65 votes

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