Do Clear Vinyls Sound Better

The practice isn t inherently a bad thing but there are tradeoffs.

Do clear vinyls sound better. Clear vinyl picture discs and glow in the dark pressings are more susceptible to poor playback. Is the sound on vinyl records better than on cds or dvds. Cds reflect exactly what the artists recorded in the studio. Sales of vinyl records have been soaring although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry s revenues.

Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output. The more information running past the needle per second the more detailed the sound being reproduced. So a record spinning at 45rpm will sound better than the same one built to spin at 33 1 3rpm. Vinyl is back no doubt about it.

Pete lyman co owner and chief mastering technician at infrasonic sound an audio and vinyl mastering studio in echo park. Very few additives can be mixed into clear vinyl without jeopardizing the opacity which means there is a potential for worse sound quality albeit this drop is often imperceptible to the common listener. A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings. It s also clear that the vinyl experience is about more than just sound.

Some listeners honestly feel that the defects vinyl introduces somehow make it more attractive or warmer but from any objective standpoint there s no justification in calling the sound of vinyl records better submit a question to ask the expert. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. About 2 percent in 2014. Take a look at the graph below.

A few exceptions exist. Of course when you listen in on casual discussions of sound in 2013 you often hear that lps are back because they sound better this has happened in part because digital audio is now. There s basically nothing you can do to make an hour long album on one record sound good gonsalves said. Vinyl s capable of a lot but only if the grooves are wide enough for the needle to track.

Even by conventional metrics quality of the sound will tank the more you lean on this compression. By doing it too much you can unintentionally add noise and artifacts into your recordings by raising the levels of certain sounds as well as cutting the loudness of individual.