Which is Better? Vinyl or Digital?

Ever since music has been available digitally, there’s been a roaring debate over whether vinyl or digital delivers better sound. I have my personal preference, but is one empirically better than the other?

NoiseAddicts.com argues a few reasons vinyl might be perceived as “better” than digital:

Vinyl is a continuous signal

As opposed digital, which relies on producing rapid samples of an audio wave, vinyl is one continuous wave.

“It’s often said that it sounds more ‘organic’ because being analogue, it’s a continuous signal rather than 44,100 samples a second.

I’m in agreement with the original poster. I don’t think there’s much, if any, perceived difference to many, if any ears between the audio types due to the existence of a single wave versus a sampled wave. I don’t think human ears are nearly that advanced. It’s almost like arguing the difference between looking at a picture, and a super high resolution print of the same image. From a few inches away, they should look identical for all intents and purposes.

Vinyl is nostalgic

There’s no debating that the idea and ritual of vinyl is more romantic than hitting “buy” on a website.

“In a world of disposable digital files, and utilitarian CDs (that just end up getting ripped anyway), a record is a beautiful object. And the act of putting the needle down is far more satisfying than double clicking.

The idea of rummaging and collecting vinyl is much sexier than colleting mp3’s. No contest here.

Vinyl is “warm”

When people mention the “warmth” of vinyl, they’re really referencing the added distortion from the medium. Depending on how you view this, that might be a good or bad thing, but I’d argue that the distortion is an extension of the nostalgia appeal, and shouldn’t be counted as better sound. It may help invoke the era in which the music was created, and offer an “audio sepia effect,” but distortion is, by definition, a destruction of the sound.

If you haven’t guessed by now, this Boston disc jockey has a preference. I prefer digital audio both for the clarity and convenience, but will leave the debate up to you as to which is better.

Source: Noise Addicts