CD's or Vinyl?


Gun to your head, if you could only pick one, which would you choose.  As nostalgic and sublime as Vinyl can be I think I'd have to go with Cd's.  Just seems cleaner and more pristine to me.

And You?

 

klimt

CDs and no gun needed lol.  LPs were great and the gatefold albums and inserts and pictures look better big but CDs have it from there.  You didn’t ask about streaming but that has overtaken CDs for me.  I have my Qobuz playlists with me to play on any system on land, lake or air.  

For those who prefer streaming, to what music do you listen? As not all artists, conductors and orchestras are listed and you sometimes only get  one version and not the one you want.

Vinyl is final for the best sound staging. that being said I have a killer analog setup with Sota Cosmos Eclipse vacuum table, SME V with Koestsu Jade all running through tube pre and amps. Cd's or the Aurender to me are for back ground music not critical listening. IMHO

People who don't have experienced actual concert (classic, jazz, pop, whatever) usually say that analog (vinyl) is better or true to the music. I know why. Except some cases of very high end analog system and LPs with highest quality, most analog systems give soft sound rather than sharp sound (this sharp sound is only available from real concerts). So, no-concet-experience-people might think the soft sound is musical. Oh, poor people! I cannot talk any more of audio/music listening with the poor people.

CD is absolutely better than LP. This is what Herbert von Karajan said many decades ago!

 

Much depends on the (digitization) quality of the media. I once did an A-B test on some of the Beatles' original vinyl albums and their early CD releases. The CDs sounded really 'plastic', thin and harsh compared to the Beatles' old vinyl albums. In addition, playing vinyl is more of a ceremony. Playing or streaming a CD is more of a technique. Anyway, enjoying music is the goal.