Vinyl vs. CD: An Analog Revival in a Digital World (Part 3 of 3)

(This is the third part of a three part article discussing the format wars between CD and Vinyl.)

As I alluded in Part 1, many advocates of vinyl claim that the LP actually presents a richer, more robust sound than the CD. Are they correct? To discover for myself I decided to listen to both vinyls and CDs of the very same album. And to make sure I wasn't missing out on any sonic nuances, I performed this "test" using higher quality Phillips headphones. The turntable I used was the Sony PSLX250H. The same EQ and volume settings were used for all CD and vinyl listening sessions as well.

I decided to listen to two different albums; one new and one old. The new album was The Killers' Sam's Town. The old album was Steely Dan's Aja. I chose these albums that hail from very different eras to examine an important point regarding the vinyl v. CD debate: does an album that was cut with a specific medium in mind tend to sound better on that intended medium? In other words, does The Killers album, which was mixed primarily for the CD, sound better than its vinyl counterpart? Or does one medium tend to rise to the top regardless of the producer's intent?

Finally, before I continue on with my analysis of both albums, I must emphasize that my test is by no means scientific. Instead, my findings are based on my personal and subjective conclusions. Please keep that in mind if my determinations run counter to yours.


The Killers - 'Sam's Town'
Recently I splurged and purchased the special edition picture disc vinyl of The Killers' Sam's Town from a local, independent music shop. It came with bonus artwork that folded out, and the disc itself looked very cool. But how did it sound?

Because this Killers album was released in 2006, it is safe to say its production staff had the CD in mind when it cut the record. This means that all of the mixing and layering was tweaked to sound as good as it could on a compact disc. And I'm willing to bet that many of the dubs were recorded digitally as well. With that in mind I figured I'd be lucky to have the vinyl version of Sam's Town provide me with an equally mastered sound. But, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

To be perfectly honest, there was such little difference between the vinyl and the CD that it was quite negligible. In fact, it was only because I was focusing so intently for the purposes of this post that I even began to notice the subtleties of each medium. The first thing I did notice, however, was that a slight crackle and hiss inherent of vinyl was present on each track when I listened to the wax version of Sam's Town. Of course I did have headphones on, and I did have the volume cranked way up, but it was still a difference that weighed in silicon's favor where no hiss existed under the same settings. Depending on whether you like pops and ambient feedback imposed on top of your music, the CD version ended up being the better option.

But as I listened further, I noticed that the vinyl version, aside from those slight hisses, actually provided a bit more of a richer sound. The instruments were more pronounced, and they had a sharper zing to them. Bass drums actually overtook Brandon Flowers' vocals at times, and it began to feel like I was sitting in the studio with the band live as they were laying down each track. The CD, on the other hand, sounded relatively tinny when compared to the vinyl, and every instrument seemed to have been amplified to share one uniform volume level. The CD had a much cleaner sound though, and the production focus was definitely on Flowers' singing as I never detected any moment where an instrument once overtook his voice. The CD was certainly a little more "sanitized."

Like I said, the differences between the vinyl and CD versions of this modern album were minuscule. The fact that the vinyl could sound as good as its CD counterpart in 2008 was definitely unexpected, but in no way did the LP sound better. While the vinyl provided a more pronounced sound than the CD, the CD was cleaner in that it didn't have that faint hiss. That clean sound did lead to making the CD sound tinnier, however, and I preferred the vinyl slightly if only for its ability to capture every instrument's true sound without reducing them all to the same volume level below that of the vocal.

To be sure, the distinction between the vinyl and CD of Sam's Town is a true toss-up. The album was definitely custom made for the CD, so from that standpoint it probably makes most sense for the average audiophile to enjoy the album on that medium. Yet, if you value full fidelity and don't mind a weak LP crackle on a modern song, then the vinyl version is for you. Not to be too much of a fence sitter on this one, format preference for Sam's Town truly lies in the ear of the beholder.


Steely Dan - 'Aja'
Unlike my Sam's Town purchase, in no way did I need to splurge to pick up the vinyl version of Aja. For a whopping $1.99 I bought a non-warped, near-mint version of one of Steely's finest albums from the very same independent record store as before. If only for the bargain price alone, I could not wait to spin this record as soon as I got home.

In large contrast to my Killers experience, the difference between Aja on vinyl and Aja on CD was DRASTIC! The wax disc was louder, fuller, and richer than its silicon counterpart in very acute ways. One of the most dazzling observations was the fact that the horns really shone through on the vinyl when they were pretty much a non-element on the compact disc. The backing vocals were also warmer on the LP, and every single sound was pure vibrancy. The CD, on the other hand, had every instrument mixed to the same level, and the entire package was so silent I felt like I was listening to a distant band in a vacuum, as opposed to a very near band in a recording studio. To say the least, the studio perfectionism of Steely Dan lore was stripped of all its nuances on the CD. Talk about no fun!

Similar to my Killers listening test, Aja also had the inherent crackle and hiss present, but the overall sound was so evidently superior to the CD that after a very short while I didn't even pay attention. That is not to say that the CD sounded bad---the CD actually sounded very good in and of itself. Its just that while the CD sounded great, the vinyl sounded greater.

Conclusion
My test by no means provided conclusive results. Scientific conditions weren't maintained, and there was a very limited random sample: Me. But through this small, three-part exploration, I did discover that vinyl, a medium I formerly wrote off as an antiquated relic, can sound just as good, if not better, than the contemporary CD.

Surely, as the compact disc is increasingly dwarfed by hard drives and iPods as the preferred place to house digital tracks, vinyl will remain the one bastion of tangible music. It will be the last place where music can actually be held in hand and admired without the need for a computer screen. And as more and more artists begin to release albums with vinyl as one of their intended formats, it will not be surprising to have modern day LPs sound better than their digital counterparts.

For further reading on this trend, check out Time Magazine's very recent article.

(You can also read parts 1 and 2 of this article by clicking on their respective number).

Vinyl vs. CD: An Analog Revival in a Digital World (Part 2 of 3)

(This is the second part of a three part article discussing the format wars between CD and Vinyl.)

In Part 1, I briefly introduced vinyl as a medium that appears to be on an upswing in a world dominated by the compact disc. In this section, I will further enumerate the vast differences between the two formats.

Portability

This is probably the one category where the two camps of format fanatics can agree. The compact disc wins the portability argument in one fell swoop if only because of its smaller, sleeker size. The vinyl LP is physically wider, and it is considerably heavier. This means that transporting numerous amounts of CDs can be accomplished much easier than transporting even just a few LPs. Furthermore, most car stereos can play CDs, and many folks own portable boomboxes to where they can easily bring their silicon tunes with them. Imagine trying to install a vinyl player in a car dash!

Durability

In the past, my only experience with vinyl was the faded, crackling sound of warped records stored in my parents' basement. Obviously, if a vinyl has been taken proper care of, the LP can live a long, fruitful life, and the crackles and pops of vinyl urban lore can be avoided. But in any case, my not-so-unique experience serves as an effective example of another benefit the CD holds over vinyl: turntables make contact with the medium every time the music is played, whereas no physical contact is made with a CD. It is a laser beam that decodes music encoded digitally, meaning virtually no wear or tear occurs when a CD is played. Vinyl LPs, on the other hand, are worn down slightly (albeit minutely) every time the stylus runs itself through the groove. On top of that, vinyls are much more easily scratched and the dust they can collect can significantly alter the intended sound. However, there is one caveat to the durability debate: Silicon, over time, begins to deteriorate just by sitting in storage on its own. In fact, CDs apparently have a life span of only 15 good years. Vinyl, on the other hand, can endure for over a century. Depending on how permanent your collection is, vinyl may actually win out in this category.

Listener Experience

CDs have tried to employ gimmicks in the past to force its listeners to be more emotionally involved. Some music companies have snuck computer programs that can be played off of the disc, and some have even implemented "secret tracks." But for the most part, many CDs are relatively boring, containing little incentive for the listener to sit back and just admire the disc. Vinyl obviously does a better job of generating involvement. The division of a long player into two separate sides means that the listener better be paying attention so she can flip the record over at the necessary time. The heavier, thicker tactile effect of vinyl also leaves greater imprint on the imagination from simply just touching and handling the waxy record. Larger artwork and linear notes are usually packaged with the vinyl LP. Conversely, CDs are flimsy and brittle, invoking little romantic feeling from its look and touch.

From a convenience perspective, there is no way to remotely navigate from track to track on vinyl when a listener is bored, wanting to hear something else. No, the vinyl is more album oriented, meaning the listener must usually be committed for as long as each side is. If the listener wants to change track mid-rotation, she risks scratching the record and disturbing continuity by improperly lifting the stylus and matching it with an incorrect section of groove. On the other hand, because of the instant gratification the CD provides (just click a button on a remote from the comfort of your sofa) there really is very little involvement required by the CD. This may be highly convenient, but is it a memorable experience?

For many, the rapid accessibility to music a CD provides is what makes the medium great. After all, who wants to mess around with keeping an eye on a turntable when the kids need to be fed and supper is on the stove? But for those who play records to experience a sonic odyssey, all of the otherwise cumbersome features of the LP are actually enjoyable moments of the experience. Carefully placing the vinyl on the turntable and meticulously descending the stylus require diligence and focus. In contrast, simply loading a silicon disc into an electronic tray happens so effortlessly we often take it for granted. Depending on one's motivation, the interactivity required of vinyl can be a saving grace, or instead, a despicable curse.

Technological Differences

The technological distinctions between vinyl and the compact disc are starkly evident. The former is analog, and the latter is digital. Vinyl contains the physical manifestations of the sound waves in its grooves, while the CD contains binary snapshots and representations of the sound in the form of ones and zeroes. Vinyl can hold maybe half-an-hour's worth of audible data on each side, whereas the CD is single-sided and can hold up to 80 minutes of sound in a much smaller space. CD players allow the listener to pause, skip, rewind, and shuffle all from the convenience of a remote. Turntables require the listener to hover over the unit to run its functions, and they are incapable of skipping or pausing in the way a CD player can. Shuffling is also an impossibility with vinyl (unless, maybe, you have some crazy, custom-engineered system).

Perhaps the most important technological difference has to do with the fact that an album is the music, and a CD is merely a place where the music resides. At first this is sort of a murky distinction, but think of it like this: An album, because of its analog nature, has a unique physical "fingerprint" for each album imprinted onto it. The actual sound waves are imposed into the vinyl, essentially creating a different "sculpture" for each album recorded. With a CD, its digital encoding is manifested as microscopic differences in dye burned by the original laser. However, unlike vinyl, with the right kind of laser (and arguably the right kind of CD) that original image can be erased and re-recorded with something else on the very same piece of silicon. So while the digital image can change, the physical characteristics of the CD remain the same. Such a function is impossible with vinyl.

Furthermore, the CD is multifunctional, whereas vinyl is not. With vinyl, it has one purpose: the playback of audio. CDs, as we are all aware, can contain so much more than music. Photos, computer software, video, classified documents, and PowerPoint presentations can all be stored and accessed on a compact disc. And because the music on CD can be easily "ripped" to a hard drive as an MP3, M4A, or OGG, exact digital copies of the original audio can be created for archival on a completely different digital medium.

For many, CDs are merely a temporary storage place for their music. With the advent of iPods and home music servers, many CDs may be sitting on the shelf collecting dust, while the music originally contained on those very discs are still in viable rotation on some of these other digital mediums. For instance, I may play Alice in Chains' Dirt on my iTunes once a week, but I haven't actually lifted the original compact disc out of its jewel case in over two years. Conversely, because vinyl is very difficult to replicate to other formats without sacrifice in sound quality, pretty much the only effective way to access the original music is to play the original vinyl LP.

Prelude to Part Three

You have probably noticed that I have failed to detail the most important aspect of the CD/Vinyl Debate: sound quality. Don't worry, I will be sure to discuss this and share with you my personal thoughts on the subject in the near future. For now, this post has grown long enough, and I will end it here.

Be sure to read the forthcoming conclusion to this formatting exploration in Part 3.

Vinyl vs. CD: An Analog Revival in a Digital World (Part 1 of 3)

(This is the first part of a three part article discussing the format wars between CD and Vinyl.)

Introduction

Perhaps the only argument that has persisted on longer than the vinyl vs. CD debate is that one about the chicken and the egg. Both camps have loyal supporters. And both camps have strong evidence supporting their preferred medium. Yet neither format has attracted a substantial majority of audiophiles exclusively.

A few months ago Wired published an article about vinyl and its contribution to the "impending" death of the CD. Allegedly pressing houses are at capacity and vinyl sales are up, while CD sales have steadily declined since the dawn of the millennium. Of course, many CD sales have been displaced by MP3 purchases at online retailers such as iTunes, meaning that digital music resides no longer on silicon discs but on servers and hard drives instead. However, even with those MP3 sales accounted for, vinyl's rise as the medium of choice for some music buyers is impressive.

Having been born the year after the compact disc was invented, I have personally witnessed the swift extinction of turntables from the lay person's living room. By the time I was entering junior high, mere ownership of a record player was symbolic of the luddite and his unwillingness to accept the bright future the CD promised us. After all, vinyl records were bulky, difficult to transport, and began to crackle when dusty or scratched. CDs, on the other hand, were small, sleek, durable, and were easily portable for play in car stereos or discmans. CD burners were affordable and put the power of track selection in the hands of the consumer, while I never personally knew anybody who had a $10,000 vinyl cutter just sitting in her bedroom.

Yet, as vinyl vacated the collective imagination of the everday music listener, the medium prevailed in the niche circles of DJs and analog fanboys. DJs often preferred vinyl for its scratching capabilities and for the fact that analog offers a wider range of frequency for listeners than does the CD. Analog purists argued that vinyl provided a warmer, fuller sound, and that CDs sounded sanitized and mechanical. Because digital could only take "snapshots" of the sound, they said, CDs were incapable of presenting a true reproduction of the studio recording. The groove of the analog record, they furthered, is the only medium able to provide true sonic replication because the indentation in the vinyl is a physical manifestation of the actual sound waves and vibrations created by the original instruments.

As I weighed the audible possibilities of vinyl in a music culture rife with silicon, I decided to examine the format differences for myself. Did vinyl provide a richer, warmer sound? Or was CD superior in that it furnished a much more precise tone?

Read the forthcoming Part 2 to continue this musical format journey with me.