Cd Dynamic Range Vs Vinyl

Cd vs vinyl record comparison.

Cd dynamic range vs vinyl.

Digiphiles on the other hand laugh at lp s pitiful dynamic range surface noise pop and crackle harmonic distortion and various other limitations to do with the ability of either the cutting head to master difficult signals onto. Cds and vinyl records are both audio storage and playback formats based on rotating discs from different times i. The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs.

Here lp actually wins over cd. The dynamic range of a direct cut vinyl record may surpass 70 db. 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. In practical terms this means that cds have more than 10 times the dynamic range of lps.

Lp vs digital is a religious war that has been played out by various audiophiles ever since the cd format. 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. 70ish db than analog analog recordings sometimes have a higher effective dynamic range because their mixes weren t made with boosting loudness as an end goal. Another significant impact of finite quantizing resolution is finite dynamic range.

Comparing compact discs cds to vinyl or gramophone records is the musical equivalent of comparing digital photography with film photography. The only signal that can exist between the bits of a cd is drowned out by random noise from the vinyl surface grain. Narrow dynamic range sounds very odd to the ear when sounds that are supposed to be loud are quiet and so on. Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest signal and the noise floor.

Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db. Dust particles in the grooves of an lp cause crackles and ticks that are present and audible no matter. Cds can handle over 90 db. Analog fm broadcasts rarely have a dynamic range exceeding 50 db.

As implemented the bit depth of cd and dvd digital audio formats accommodates a higher dynamic range than vinyl is capable of. 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. Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve. 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.

The dynamic range of digital audio systems can exceed that of analog audio systems.