CD Got Absolutely Crushed By Vinyl

The OP is making a nonsense claim. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting my mate who has a top-end Naim set up (Naim Statement pre amp, CD555) with a Linn LP12 deck. So £20k of CD player and the same for the LP12. We compared the vinyl and CD of a number of titles. Both sounded fantastic and the differences were not huge. I would say that more sounded better on CD than vinyl though my friend thought the opposite. The only definitive thing was that bass was deeper on CD on modern recordings (eg Random Access Memories by Daft Punk). I would argue that the differences we heard were more to do with the mastering than the format.

In summary: the differences between CD and vinyl on high-end equipment are marginal - high-end replay of vinyl and digital are essentially similar.  The differences you hear will be more to do with the differences in the respective mastering than in the format itself.   If you are hearing big differences between the two formats then something is wrong with the part of your system playing the poorer sounding format.

£20k of CD player to listen to the rubbish like the Daft Punk ?

Do you realize that they are recorded digitally in the studio, so what is the point to compare vinyl recorded from the digital master to a CD from a digital master ?

The goal of analog is ANALOG, not a digital converted to analog.

Get youself some proper original records from the 70’s to make sure you’re listening to the state of the art analog, not a digitally remastered reissue or new music recorded digitally. Original pressing from analog master tape is where the vinyl is better than CD of the same music recorded later from digital source.

Daft Punk’s "Random Access Memories" was recorded to tape using almost entirely 70s studio gear. That was why the album cost the million dollars it did as these guys were buying up and rebuilding 70s gear to allow them to make an analogue recording. There is very little EQ used in the mix, no plug-ins...it is a wonderful recording. Check this article out to read the great lengths they went to to create an authentic 70s sounding recording: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/recording-random-access-memories-daft-punk
...and it is a fabulous album. Check out the last track ’Contact’ for an epic 21st century prog sounding finale. Or ’Touch’ for a masterpiece of light and shade: a choral wonder. Or ’Georgio by Moroder’ for some of the best drumming you will ever hear as it reaches its climax.



Re my vinyl vs cd comparison: we mainly compared 70s material as you suggest; original Dark Side Of The Moon LP with first edition straight CD transfer (original CD masters were usually a simple trtransfer from the master tapes) and also compared to the James Guthrie 2011 remaster. I preferred the Guthrie remaster, my friend preferred the LP, but the differences were not massive = testament to Guthrie’s remastering skills. We compared a 70s Rush album, Carole King and more. CD would lose badly only when a version with brickwalled remastering was compared to original 70s vinyl. Well remastered CD or first edition CD was very close with myself usually preferring CD, my friend vinyl.