Vinyl vs. digital

I borrowed a 'best of' type CD from the local library of the Jesus and Mary Chain and it seemed to me that the songs that were mutual to the CD and my two JAMC LP's sounded different...with the digital versions sounding inferior. I'm not talking about different versions of songs. I'm talking about the actual sounds on identical versions of songs.

Does anyone else notice the same thing with vinyl vs. digital? If so, are there any glaring examples that come to your mind?

We has this discussion a little while back.

There are many examples, particularly poor mastering on Greatest Hits packages and any CD manufactured before the early 90s.

CDs made in the 1980s used a different approach. It took engineers over a decade to adjust to the digital format. With the sudden increase in headroom, the instinct was to over-utilize areas that were deficient in previous formats and this caused many CDs to sound shrill, empty and tinny. There was also the temptation to increase the overall saturation level when the product was new to give the impression that the format was superior and more powerful. What this did was cause a drop in the dexterity of the midrange and remove much of the subtleties that were more obvious in the vinyl record format (with its warm midrange). Record companies of course didn't care (nor do most consumers) and many of the artists themselves had to purchase or oversee the re-transfer of the masters in the 90s.

Add to this the fact the D/A converters in CD players in the 80s are different from the ones today. CDs were mastered with those converters in mind because the idea was to push the format in league with the manufacturers. At first, when the redbook standard came out, only audiophiles purchased CDs on mostly classical titles. As the format became profitable, all titles were rushed out to consumers who would be playing them on cheaper and cheaper systems which meant, in order to make the format appealing, overall dB output of the CD was increased, making many of the titles very 'boomy'. Imagine what all this did to albums that were produced before the advent of the CDA-file format.

As for the JaMC. My CDs of Psychocandy and Automatic do not sound as good as the records.



Post Edited (09-19-07 16:26)

It's not like you are comparing two recordings of Handel's Water Music. It's the Jesus and Mary Chain -- its gonna sound fuzzed out in any recorded format!

I went to my local library but the closest thing to the JMC was "Thomas the Tank Engine". Not much feedback on that one.