Dynamic Range Cd Vs Vinyl

Cds and vinyl records are both audio storage and playback formats based on rotating discs from different times in music history the cd audio is digitally encoded and read by a laser while analog vinyl audio is physically read by a needle.

Dynamic range cd vs vinyl. Dynamic comparison of lps vs cds part 4 by chris tham september 02 2004. Consumer analog cassette tapes have a dynamic range of 60 to 70 db. 16 bit cd digital audio has a technical dynamic range of 96 db though many argue the perceived range is higher when taking dithering into account. When i cut a master for vinyl and a cd master from the same digital master tape they sounded pretty much the same except for the noise floor.

Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs. The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. However by any measurable criterion cds are superior to lps. It s just designed to.

And so are mp3 and aac files with bit rates above 300k which in most cases are indistinguishable from cds. Yes vinyl was noisier. Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve. 70ish db than analog analog recordings sometimes have a higher effective dynamic range because their mixes weren t made with boosting loudness as an end goal.

Yes you have heard all the arguments before and you are probably sick and tired of it. Even though digital music has a higher theoretical dynamic range 96db vs. Comparing compact discs cds to vinyl or gramophone records is the musical equivalent of comparing digital photography with film photography. Here are the reasons why.

The only signal that can exist between the bits of a cd is drowned out by random noise from the vinyl surface grain. Another significant impact of finite quantizing resolution is finite dynamic range. Cds can handle over 90 db. Lp s difference between maximum to average is around 11 56db compared against the cd recording at 11 11db and even the digital rip at 11 35db.

As implemented the bit depth of cd and dvd digital audio formats accommodates a higher dynamic range than vinyl is capable of. Dynamic comparison of lps vs cds part 4. Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db. The first one was recorded when the dynamic range of tape and vinyl was fairly limited yet the recording retains plenty of dynamic shading and expression.

The dynamic range of digital audio systems can exceed that of analog audio systems. Vinyl vs cd fidelity. Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest signal and the noise floor. The dynamic range of a direct cut vinyl record may surpass 70 db.

With the above in mind i began exploring why some vinyl records have greater dynamic range rightly concluding that mastering lay at the heart of the issue. Lp vs digital is a religious war that has been played out by various audiophiles ever since the cd format was introduced in the. Here lp actually wins over cd.