They sound different and that s exactly the point.
Why is vinyl superior to cd.
Vinyl is great but the idea that its sound quality is superior to that of uncompressed digital recordings is preposterous.
Take a look at the graph below.
There is less interference from hissing turntable rumble etc better stereo channel separation and have no variation in playback speed.
Vinyl is one of the best ways to listen to music.
Vinyl may be an underdog to streaming but it has outlasted the cd.
However that s not to say there aren t advantages to digital music.
Cds have a better signal to noise ratio i e.
The vinyl format can generate other issues.
For sure hi res digital music is a vastly superior format in both convenience and quality so why would someone side with vinyl over mp3 or streaming.
It is why mp3 with relatively few samples is so poor and hi res audio with far more is the closest we have to a studio recording.
Records aren t exactly known for their portability for example.
Vinyl is a limited market which attracts hipsters and enthusiasts.
The quality of a digital reproduction is dictated by how many of those samples of the original are made.
What vinyl can t do.
From a technical standpoint digital cd audio quality is clearly superior to vinyl.
Original sound is analog by definition.
Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the cd audio and dvd audio output.
A vinyl record is an analog recording and cds and dvds are digital recordings.
The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.
To many the superior sound quality and physical collection are enough to justify the investment.
Cd quality sits somewhere in the middle with 44 100 samples per second at 16 bit accuracy.