Vinyl Vs Cd Dynamic Range

Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs.

Vinyl vs cd dynamic range.

Dynamic comparison of lps vs cds part 4. The standard cd format is a 2 channel 16 bit 44 1 khz setup. Analog fm broadcasts rarely have a dynamic range exceeding 50 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.

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. Yes vinyl was noisier. Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db.

Digital got its act together but not until the death of the cd. Maybe it was coincidence but vinyl began its resurgence at around the same time as recordings started this trend. 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.

Lp vs digital is a religious war that has been played out by various audiophiles ever since the cd format was introduced in the. I just cannot stand records having that characteristic boxy mid bass hollowness spread between l and r as well as. It wasn t long before vinyl recordings of the same content often had better sound quality at normal listening volumes simply because they had higher dynamic range. 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.

Vinyl has greater resolution than cd because its dynamic range is higher than for cd at the most audible frequencies. Vinyl is an analog storage medium which means there is a physical record of the music imprinted on the vinyl disc read by a sensitive needle called a stylus. Dynamic comparison of lps vs cds part 4 by chris tham september 02 2004. How the end of side track is always left sounding like sludge.

Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve. Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest signal and the noise floor. Here lp actually wins over cd. Consumer analog cassette tapes have a dynamic range of 60 to 70 db.

Yes you have heard all the arguments before and you are probably sick and tired of it.