CD v.s LP - When comming from the same MASTER


This has probably been discussed to death but after reading a few posts its a little unclear to me still.

Some artists today are releasing albums on LP format as well as CD format. If a C.D and an LP (LP's made today)came from the same MASTER DIGITAL SOURCE at the same release time. Would the LP format always sound better? or because it came from digital, might as well get the C.D?

Whatcha think
agent193f7c5

Showing 2 responses by aroc

Short answer the LP, period. If the master was something higher than 16/44.1 and a lot are 24 bit word length and up to 96k, then CD cannot capture all of that data, so in theory the LP will have the edge since it was converted to analog directly from up to 24/96, and the cd must first be down-sampled to 16/44.1k, then converted to analog.

I would have agreed with NTSCDan, but I listened with my ears, and lots of digital LPs do sound as good or better than CDs. This is with my focus on classical music. Electronic, amplified, rock, or pop music from digital masters might not far as well on LPs as pure acoustic music does! Sad but likely true!

I agree with Albert that I'd rather have the mastering lab to the D-to-A conversion for me.
I used to subscribe to that theory too, it's just didn't pan out that way when I actually listened to some digital vinyl. To me most digital vinyl just sounds more dynamic and natural than most CDs. Too bad I don't have duplicate copies on each format to compare. But you can't write off digital vinyl on theory alone. It sounds like NTSCDan has actually listened for himself, which is good. I respect that. To him the hightened noise floor in unacceptable. To me the increased naturalness of the digital vinyl is more acceptable that CD. We must listen for different things. Too bad we cannot afford the Meitner CDSD/DCC2 or Reimyo cdp-777. Then maybe I wouldn't need digital LPs of things I can find on CD for less.