CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Tony Tschetter-Breed writes

The Hi-Fi Test: Vinyl vs. CD

This week Chicago Public Radio’s Sound Opinions talked about the differences in sound quality between vinyl and CD. It’s something I’ve heard before: hardcore audio enthusiasts say that vinyl’s analog sound is warmer and richer than a CD’s digital recording. But can you really tell the difference?

First, a brief explanation of the difference. Analog means that the actual sound wave is reproduced exactly in the recording medium – the grooves on the record are reproductions of the original sound wave. Digital means that the wave is translated into numbers, which are then used to recreate the wave. The advantage of digital is that it doesn’t break down; it takes quite a few smudges on a CD to affect the sound, whereas every piece of dust on your record will affect that sound wave. The disadvantage is that whereas analog is an exact reproduction of the sound wave, digital recreates the sound wave, and so looses some detail. The detail lost is supposed to be so fine as to be imperceptible.

If the difference is perceptible, you certainly won’t hear it on tiny earbud headphones, or on tinny computer speakers. You won’t hear it on your car speakers, either, over the hum of the engine. If you want to take the test, you will have to try it in a quiet room, with a good hi-fi stereo.

I’m no hi-fi fetishist, but I have a pretty good stereo, with good speakers, and a separate woofer. It seemed like a pretty good setup to try this out myself. I chose two tracks that I own on both CD and vinyl: “Oh What a World”, from Rufus Wainwright’s 2003 album Want One, and “Hello Earth”, from Kate Bush’s 1985 album The Hounds of Love. Both tracks are rich and complex, so I thought I’d be more likely to hear a difference.

The verdict? I believe I did hear a difference. The vinyl was, as they say it is, warmer. The CDs were crisper, and just slightly diminished. It’s certainly possible that I heard it because I wanted to, of course; my experiment was by no means scientific. And it bears mentioning that both versions sounded great (a serious improvement over my tiny earbuds while I’m on the el). Oh, and there was one other difference, at least in the Rufus Wainwright song: on the LP, it had a skip.

Want to try this experiment in your own home? You might need some records… so come on down to the CHIRP Record Fair and Other Delights this weekend, April 12-13, 2008, at Pulaski Park Field house.