Audio CD's vs Vinyl Debate! My thoughts.

Used to have a vinyl setup, but went to CDs and digital files for convenience. At first the sound quality gap was noticeable, but I have sunk a lot of money into my digital chain and have gotten incremental improvements. Now my system sounds great to me, but differently great than vinyl if you know what I mean. Streaming content has been a revelation in terms of discovering new music. Some say CDs sound better than streaming, but I reached a point where I could not tell the difference in my setup, so I ditched my CDs. Although digital playback using high rez files from a NAS or the internal drive of my server is still better than streaming, the gap is narrowing, so eventually there won't be any reason to do anything else but stream. Just my 2 cents. Btw, I see you are a McIntosh fan, can't say I ever really cared for the sound or looks, which makes me a bit of an outlier, so now I'm thinking, lol, perhaps my opinions don't count for much!

if you like pops and cracks listen to shity vynel!
ridiculous!

Your thoughts on Apple Homepods and Apple Music lossless streaming

I'm also in the "I like both" camp, but I will say that CDs are WAY more consistent and reliable in their sound quality than records are. They're a much more 'known quantity', where-as with vinyl you can get unlucky sometimes with a defective pressing. There's also just a lot of total junk vinyl being released that isn't worth anybody's money, unfortunately.

Regarding jewel cases getting banged up in the mail, while that can sometimes happen, the jewel case is totally replaceable and probably did it's job of protecting the disc and inserts. If your record gets banged up the mail, it's permanently damaged, though this often comes down to the packaging used in shipping. I quite like digipak CDs, though.

Los Altavoces no están demasiado apegados a la pared?

Regardless of CD or vinyl, the biggest difference I hear is the quality of the recording itself. When that one recording is transferred to CD or vinyl, then that sound quality difference is fairly small.

Vinyl sounds twice as better than CDs because the cd is only louder but doesn’t give you the experience of the music.

Vinyl sounds twice as better than CDs because the cd is only louder but doesn’t give you the experience of the music.

CDs are better... Not even close

Hi Clint, good assessment. Sometimes when I listen to vinyl I end up concentrating on the clicks and pops, and less on the music. It can be very distracting. However like you I like both formats. I have the TT15 and love it. For CD I have an Audiolab transport and the Audiolab 6000 with KEF LS 50’s.

I agree with the jewel cases breaking easily. I bought 10 replacement cases on eBay and two of them were broken out of the box

Partner likes both cd +vinyl

Partner she loves the gatefold

Just subscribed. Really enjoyed your video, lots of common sense, honesty and I would say knowledge.

CD sounds way ''better'' is closer to original master tape , vinyl produces distorted sound and all that subjective crap about your feeling is just irrelevant to the sound

Nobody actually thinks vinyl is better than cd, right?

I prefer vinyl for analog recordings made before digital technology. The artists and engineers crafted music to be recorded on tape and consumed on vinyl. They worked within the limitations of the day to produce their art. I prefer to listen to the music the way it was intended at the time it was created.

Vinyl sounds 1000 times better than cd even SACD s👮🏿‍♀️

CDs and vinyl are both great formats for listening to music. Vinyl often offers a fuller, warmer sound than CDs, while CDs can be cheaper and more portable. Ultimately, it all comes down to personal preference - you should choose the format that sounds best to your ears and suits your listening style and budget.

I prefer CD but often will buy both if adding to my collection. I like the vinyl art and have it displayed when playing my favourite albums on CD😂. I also buy a lot of autographed vinyl albums. However, having been a CD collector since my teens, your comment regarding the jewel case has me a bit perplexed. Of the hundreds, if not thousands, of CD albums I have purchased, I can honestly say I have never once had a jewel case break. You would have to be unbelievably reckless and rough to break one. Jewel case CDs are certainly a lot better than these awful cardboard sleeves and digipacks. In fact, I buy most of my CDs these days from Japan to avoid the rubbish being offered to us.

I like to play my digital files using my turntable through Serato. Best of both worlds.

I'm 44 and have collected and listened to music since about 10 but really stepping it up when I got to 20. Most of my collection is cd's roughly about a 1000 and have roughly 200 vinyl at a guess. As this guy says I like them both but some random observations..

This might be quite long..

I find some stuff does sound better on vinyl especially analog stuff from the 70's the sound seems to breathe more on some records and the sound can be almost pure if that makes sense lacking digital harshness.

Also I love the artwork and the ritual and listening to the whole thing not skipping tracks and getting the full album experience.

My main problems with it are the price of it has got ridiculous (Im talking about new vinyl). It seems the industry hasn't learnt from when cd's and tapes were overpriced and people resorted to piracy. I remember around 89 a terence trent d'arbt tape being £12.99 fast forward 10 years you couldnt give them away. A supergrass and aphex twin album being £16.99..

When I started buying a few im the 2000's there were some good bargains in charity shops in good condition like a def jam sampler record for a quid and I regularly got 7'' like libertines, arctic monkeys lots of indie stuff for 99p and £1.99. Even new albums were rarely more than 12 quid and some cult second hand classics at record fairs unavailable on cd in some cases were about 10-15, think most I paid was 18 quid for joy division closer.

Now obviously there's hardly any 7'' but i've seen ones for 8 quid and your bog standard release is about 20 quid but upto 40 quid. So it becomes a kind of luxury purchase if was feeling flush.

My next point is a lot of cd's in my collection I have bought or retained simply for 1 or 2 tracks (usually more but you get the drift) . Out of my entire cd collection the records I would play start to finish the stone cold classics would be 10% maximum. My main pleasure would be a mate would come round and I'd sort of dj. 50% of time it's be the full album but more often than not it'd be maybe 20 cd's played, some just for a couple of tracks. On vinyl that is very laborious - especially if you are clumsy like me. Also factor in we are drinking and having a smoke having fun.. If I just used vinyl the records would be messed up and would end up tatty and it would be a total faff. It was bad enough putting away the cd's piled on floor after a good night. If you just want to listen to classic albums in a sterile environment fair enough but you can't take chances on a vinyl as much as cd.

The other thing is I think for vinyl to sound good you need a very good system. I'm not technically minded so the needle, the stylus, cleaning.. it's too much hassle.

I got a marantz cd player and was staggered in the difference with soundstage, clarity and detail and it was like rediscovering my cd collection and that was 300 quid cash converters. If I wanted to get a similar sound for vinyl i'd need to spend at least 600 for a turntable.

I have cd's from 90's and older ones from 80s second hand they sound perfect with no degredation whatsoever and i've hammered them. When cd came out they record industry thought it was suicide allowing the public to have access to studio quality masters. To achieve that sound with vinyl you can't play it constantly without degrading sound quality crackles, pops, scratches and you have to be very careful.

But like I say I do like them both it's just you get more bang for your buck with cd.

I think also a lot of people who like cd like the mastering and some cd's are ridiculous in their loudness, they seem to assume your average person who buys one will just whack it in a car stereo and want it to sound good but there's so many variables like how the record was produced, mastered, recorded.. But it can be mastered well on cd.

Guess it depends on your listening habits but like I said if you have a compilation with some amazing tracks the rest filler it's such a hassle changing tracks on vinyl.

But whatever your preference and like I say I love the ritual and artwork of vinyl all of this is better than streaming, mp3 I can tell the difference easy but even if you had the wav files on a drive and didn’t need internet connection and had access to every track (which there are loads of tracks that aren't on internet that were forgetten) it's not the same as having a browse and excitedly rushing home and pressing play. It's too immediate and you get out what you put in. What I also hate is finding a track I love and it's not even available on cd just a digital download. Not for me thanks I don't want to fire up a computer to listen that's no fun for me.

I could go on with more points but i've banged on way longer than I should but to be consise there's so many factors to it but to say that 1 persay is better 100% I don't think you can.

Some of these arguments discussed here are pretty much baseless. Many CDs no longer come in jewel cases. I prefer jewel to digi-pack or the dreaded uni-pack. However you have more options as the album doesn't have to be flipped. And if you are listening to music, why are you sitting? Downloads are often not made available now and subject to streaming and hence contract renewal. Sam Cooke's ABKO catalog, the Cameo-Parkway hits, among many others sat out of print for decades waiting for reissue contracts to be signed. There isn't the upstart fee in doing a reissue but titles can disappear from streaming and there is talk that the majors may keep streaming for themselves. So you'd have to have memberships in multiple streaming companies.

Music did not start out digital

Pros and cons both ways but ultimate best imo is vinyl because it’s purer (not been digitised unless it’s from a digital master).

I am a CD guy and I usually listen to the whole album without skipping tracks. In case of vinyl you cannot listen to the whole album without a break between side A and side B.

What you call audiophile Nervosa is really your brain not liking the digital so it wants to try a different track to see if it's any better. It has nothing to do with not wanting to get up and change the track, vinyl is completely analog so your brain likes it better for lack of a better way of explaining it. Your brain can't be fooled by digital and it's DAC. Mother nature's way smarter than that.
Mold release compound has been proven to be a complete myth. This is a myth that keeps being repeated and is definitely proven wrong.

Great video my friend.

Lol, bs. Cd has color every DAC has color.......... lol

Agree with all you say. Will disagree with mold release. Never heard anyone involved with making lps say that there is mold release in the vinyl pellets that is the raw material. Records are produced in rooms that aren't super clean. What you are hearing is dust on the lps deposited during the manufacturing process.

A large part of my enjoyment of vinyl is exactly what you mentioned - the more "human-size" aspect of it - which includes life-size photgraphs, artwork that isn't tiny, lyrics and commentary that are easy to read, etc. The other aspect is just that there is so much more room for creativity with a 12 x 12 inch format. I have hundreds and hundreds of variations on what you can do with something that is that size and material. Cubes, pyramids, pop-up, fold out, spinner, cut-out, etc., etc., etc.
The creativity that goes into the physical medium is almost endless, where with a CD, I have seen maybe a few dozen variations of the physical presentation format. And yes, the jewel cases and the little nubby holders for the inserts are just badly designed. Both formats can sound great, but for the reasons above and many more, I will always prefer records over CD's, especially the original 1st pressings of everything that was made before digitization took over. The real deal.

Having grown up with vinyl and then onto CDs for years, I begrudgingly came back to the old wax platters. These relics are now way overpriced and overstated. CDs blow vinyl out of the water. I have CDs from the 80’s that still sound like the day l bought them. In order for an album to have the same longevity, one would have to devise a nuclear plan, move to the right climate, and invest time and money into endless quality control standards…. That being said, the cover and artwork size trump the little cd booklet and cases .., and that is it.

Agree...Very good explanations.Thanks for your time...

CD/ Digital are better, but I prefer Vinyl

CDs degrade over time.. scratch just as easy as records do.

Vinyl is for collecting. CD’s are for practical use. As physical media, CD’s are far less impressive than vinyl. The artwork on the packaging is way better on vinyl. A CD can be played in more places like Blu Ray players. You can get the mp3 files from a CD so you can listen to it on your computer. I have vinyls, but have no room for a record player in my home. I still like owning some vinyls though. 😂

Pointless and not very comprehensive video.