Do you prefer the sound of vinyl or CD?

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Do you prefer the sound of vinyl or CD?

I love the sound quality of vinyl - nothing else can touch it, neither CDs nor any other recording media. Both of them have their issues for me - I can hear the record scritch as it plays, and CD players are just noisy (whining, whirring) - but in the end I'd choose a record for anything if I could.

Many years ago a friend of mine put an album on the turntable and cued up a cd of the same recording. He asked me to turn around and had me listen a number of times to them. Each and every time I picked the vinyl album.

There is something much richer about it. It had a vibrancy that cd's miss.

Gotta love the old stuf....

vinyl any day not that ive heard any for a while, c/d,s are all o an 1,s, vinyl seems to capture more harmonics
and sound more fluant.

Particularly when it is Japanese half speed mastered Vinyl

The finite "o" and '1's are no match for the infinite vibration patterns of vinyl.
Again, we have willfully surrendured quality for convenience.
originally, Cds cost $2 less per disc to produce than vinyl records and the public was promised a better music delivery system for a lower cost. But the stupid american public bought up cds and cd players so fast, the record companies charged more and thus rolled in the profits.

A similar downgrade swap was made with the old VHS- Beta tape wars. Anyone remember them?
VHS sucked, BTW.

Same here. I've been an avid record collector for the past 15 years. I discovered that records sounded better than CD's as soon as I started to explore my parents' record collection. Then they gave me their records and a record player, and I never looked back.

I buy everything on vinyl (most modern recordings are still pressed on vinyl, but you might have to order them online). I've gotten into collecting rare old records and rare new records (limited editions, etc.), but I primarily just buy what I like.

Records are a good investment too. They last forever if you handle them properly. Record collecting is becoming increasingly popular - record sales are going up while CD sales are dropping. And if you're obsessed with music and record collecting, it's fun to guess which ones will increase in value over time.

I've heard hardly any records, so I can't say. However, I own a few and I plan on getting a player. That said, I am unsatisfied with the quality of CD's, although I don't think that records can provide better fidelity unless you have an expensive player that you carefully maintain. I want a player mostly just because I am obsessed with music. I want a different way to listen to it, and there's some music that's only available on vinyl.

I record my own music, and I sometimes record it at a sample rate of 96kHz with resolution of 24-bit, which is more than three times the bitrate/quality of a CD. I can hear the difference when I go down to CD quality, like night and day. SACD has four times the bitrate of regular CD's, which makes it the perfect format. I hope that SACD or a similar format becomes more popular, and I also plan on getting a player for it because I don't have one yet.

I find vinyl has a warmer sound that I am closer to. Were there the option of getting album x on vinyl or on CD, with the same tracks, sleeve information and that, I'd usually choose the vinyl, unless CD seems more fitting, or the cover's crap.

Vynils colour the sound a bit pink and limit the azure sounds a bit more nicely than CD which means the vynil can be cranked up in volume. CD is a carbon copy of the sound transmitted through speakers that are cranked up too loud and often the azure sounds are too loud and brash because of this. It also lacks the pinking of vynil which means the bass doesn't get accented when the volume is high.

For me, vinyl has a full spectrum of colors in all different tones, and different shapes and textures too, while digital music is a flat gray surface with shapes etched on it in a precise, methodical fashion. Sometimes these digital shapes are colored in, but the colors are simple and pixilated like in a newspaper comic strip. Vinyl sound is more like a detailed oil painting or some sort of 3D art installation.

Vinyl.

CD's OK, but there's many albums ("Spiderland" by Slint, "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd, "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" by The Cure, to name three) that MUST be heard on vinyl.

CDs, they have a much more neutral sound. I can understand that people would prefer the warmer sound of vinyl, but there's equaliser settings that can achieve that effect. To me CDs definitely are superior to vinyl in sound quality, but older material that is originally recorded on vinyl and then encoded for CDs are best left on their original formats.

CDs make a much better 'doink' sound when you tap them.

Cds make a better 'doink' sound? What the hell does that mean?
I guess soy burgers make a better "smush" sound, so they must be better than steak.

People are just trying to look cool and seem authentic by saying they prefer vinyl. I remember growing up thinking that Vinyl by far has the Poorest sound quality; not to mention being very vulnerable to damage and skipping at the slightest vibration. I realize that they are necessary for DJing and skratching , but in terms of what I actually Listen to CDs are definitely the highest sound quality. Tapes were better than records but they wear out from years of play to the point where the actual tape thread rips.