Dynamic Range Vinyl Vs Cd

Pcm of any flavor has a flat response to fs.

Dynamic range vinyl vs cd.

Even though digital music has a higher theoretical dynamic range 96db vs. The difference between the loudest and softest sounds an lp can play is about 70 decibels db. In practical terms this means that cds have more than 10 times the dynamic range of lps. 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.

Cds appear to sound harsh unlistenable lacking in dynamics plus a myriad of other faults. Vinyl vs cd fidelity. Lp vs digital is a religious war that has been played out by various audiophiles ever since the cd format was introduced in the early 1980s. Here lp actually wins over cd.

It s just designed to. Cds can handle over 90 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. Yes vinyl was noisier.

Vinyl records typically yield 55 65 db. 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. 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. Narrow dynamic range sounds very odd to the ear when sounds that are supposed to be loud are quiet and so on.

The first one was recorded when the dynamic range of tape and vinyl was fairly limited yet the recording retains plenty of dynamic shading and expression. Consumer analog cassette tapes have a dynamic range of 60 to 70 db. Dust particles in the grooves of an lp cause crackles and ticks that are present and audible no matter how well you clean the record. Vinyl s dynamic range is dependant on frequency because vinyl doesn t have a flat maximum output curve.

Vinyl has greater resolution than cd because its dynamic range is higher than for cd at the most audible frequencies. 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. Vinylphiles claim that cds do not sound as good as lps period. Analog fm broadcasts rarely have a dynamic range exceeding 50 db.

The dynamic range of a direct cut vinyl record may surpass 70 db. 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.