Are Digitally mastered LPs any better than CDs?


It seems to me a vinyl album that was mastered digitally would be the worst of both worlds - the digital effects would still be present,overlaid with surface noise, dust pops, no convenience features (remote control track skip, etc). I suppose if you don't have a great digital front-end, the record could sound like a CD playing on a much better CD player than you have. Or maybe if the digital master was a hi-res format, your record could sound like an SACD playing on a very high-end player, overlain with surface noise. Am I missing something?
honest1

Showing 1 response by dougdeacon

Good summary by Johnnyb53. Sampling rates when cutting/pressing vinyl are unlimited and bandwidth is far greater than RBCD. Another point, there's no need for the brickwall filter at 22kHz, which is a part of every RBCD and player. That filter causes audible harmonic distortions, one reason so many RBCDs sound harsh in the upper mids. Vinyl doesn't have that problem either.

Record surface noise is inversely proportional to record cleaning, record care and the quality of the playback equipment, including the phono stage. Get all those right and your records will be quiet, though no one should think this will be easy or cheap - it's neither.

I have hundreds of digital LP's that sound better than any CD or SACD. DVD-A can give vinyl a run, but there are so few titles it's not worth the cost of a playback deck that would match my vinyl rig.

Ultimately, as Eweedhome said, listen for yourself and decide. Try to listen to rigs that you could aspire to owning. If your budget were (say) $5,000, it might not help much to listen to $500 rigs, or $50,000 ones either.