| From: | Don Cox |
| Date: | 7 Aug 2000 at 10:50:29 |
| Subject: | Re: Cd`s & Record Decks |
On 07-Aug-00, Lee M Hemenway wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> Ahh yes but the vinyl record *sounds* far superior to Compact Disc and
> will probably continue to do so for some time yet.
That may be the case in your particular setup, but I don't think it's a
general rule.
CD players vary a good deal in sound quality, for several reasons, and
so of course do record players.
On the equipment I have here, they sound much the same, but some CDs
that have been transferred from tape sound less good than the LPs (these
are mostly early transfers), while most sound better. Many LPs that were
recorded in the US were cut from copies of the master tapes for the UK
market, and there can be resonances and distortion in the disc cutter,
as there are in even the best cartridge and pickup arm.
Likewise, there can be distortions in D to A and A to D converters,
especially jitter. If a CD is dirty or a poor pressing, or the lens is
dirty, the errors can exceed what the Reed-Solomon error correction
can handle, and the player then interpolates missing values, giving
major distortion. There is no LED on the player to tell you when this is happening.
The clicks on LPs (even brand new ones) are annoying on recordings of
solo instruments or small groups, but you can hardly hear them on busy
music such as dance music.
Listening rooms and hearing make a big difference. Listening in a noisy
environment such as in a room with a fan-cooled computer or in a car will have
an effect. If you have clear hearing above 20KHz, you would notice the
cutoff in CDs.
There are many variables.
Regards
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