Dynamic Range Of Vinyl Record

The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db.

Dynamic range of vinyl record. In other words the lp recording has a lower noise floor than the cd recording for the majority of the spectrum frequencies above 2khz. Analog fm broadcasts rarely have a dynamic range exceeding 50 db. Lp s surface noise which is responsible for the poor dynamic range is mainly concentrated below 500hz where the noise level is around 50db. Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db.

The dynamic range of vinyl when evaluated as the ratio of a peak sinusoidal amplitude to the peak noise density at that sine wave frequency is somewhere around 80 db. This number represents the difference between the peak decibel level on a recording and the recording s average loudness. The dynamic range of a direct cut vinyl record may surpass 70 db. Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve.

Vinyl can still push music to the limits of its dynamic range 55 70db but it often shies away from doing so in order to maintain sound quality. Fdr vinyl our full dynamic range releases were made in response to the so called loudness wars with the dynamic range of music being restricted more and more in an effort to make it sound louder. These releases on the other hand deliver music at its optimum sound level dynamically leaving the listener to decide on the playback level. In practical terms this means that cds have more than 10 times the dynamic range of lps.

Under theoretically ideal conditions this could perhaps improve to 120 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. Cds can handle over 90 db. Analog studio master tapes can have a dynamic range of up to 77 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. The unofficial dynamic range database uses a sliding scale from 1 to 20 1 being the worst 20 being the best to rank the dynamic quality of each of the recordings they list. There s very little compression so the loudest parts of those sounds often stand out like you d expect them to at a live performance. 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.

Yes vinyl was noisier. Consumer analog cassette tapes have a dynamic range of 60 to 70 db. That s why snare drums cymbal splashes and other loud instruments have so much more punch in vinyl recordings. The dynamic range of music as normally perceived in a concert hall doesn t exceed 80 db and human speech is normally perceived over a range of about 40 db.

The maximum dynamic range we can put on a vinyl record is around 60 db. Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs. The dynamic range of human hearing is roughly 140 db.