Does digital music sound better than vinyl?

Steve Guttenberg from Cnet thinks With a turntable, does digital music sound better than vinyl?.

Steve Guttenberg writes for numerous audio magazines and has worked as a record producer and high-end sales representative. His songwriting partner Dave McNair has mastered the work of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Willie Nelson and Miles Davis, among others.

At first, McNair reflects on the pleasures of vinyl listening in terms of sound quality. He mentions, among other things, that when listening to vinyl, one must commit to listening to the music of one's choice for at least the twenty minutes it takes for one half of the vinyl to play out approximately.

To change the record, you also have to get up, put the record on a plate and insert the needle into the groove. According to McNair, he would listen to vinyl even if it sounded the same as digital music.

Regarding sound quality, Guttenberg and McNair stated that LP playback does not approach the digital level in terms of frequency consistency, stereo separation, distortion reduction, or low noise levels.

However, they believe that there is something about vinyl records played on a good instrument and with a good sound that brings the music to life. Although the playback of an LP may be ”less perfect” than digital music, in their view it does not seem to matter.

The reason for this difference of opinion remains a mystery even to the authors themselves: ”It’s hard to define, but there’s something about the LP that captivates even critical and accustomed listeners like McNair and me.”

Perhaps this would be the place for a shock test, unless the familiar timbre of a vinyl record reveals the audio source too easily.

What do you think, dear readers? Which one sounds better?

Read the entire original Cnet article from here: