Records from the past were recorded with tape and analogue equipment and recorded on vinyl. It then went to digital recordings on CD with digital recording gear.
How are vinyl records of digital recordings better than CD’s?
In: Technology
CDs are a middle ground.
If you value convenience, streaming or MP3 files beat CDs.
If you don’t care that much about convenience, if you prefer tactile, visually appealing physical media, vinyl probably does that better.
CDS have minimally better sound quality but vinyls look better and you can put them up as decoration and whatnot
As a person born in the 50s who only had vinyl I was thrilled to have CDs in 1987. No more pops of hiss. I later moved to SACD that gives a true audiophile experience.
The explanations I see in this thread about the album art and the ritual of playing vinyl do not outweigh the advantages of a better listening experience IMO.
I think it comes down if you care more about the experience or the sound. Since in most cases today there is less need for physical media to have decent sound on most playback devices (earbuds, small speakers) then experience does become more important.
Because playing music on vinyl is fashionable. There are more nuanced explanations but this is the gist of it.
One thing that nobody has mentioned is the benefit in regards to the “loudness wars.” Record labels started cranking up the volume on CDs during the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, this causes a loss in dynamic range (ie. the quiet and loud parts of the song are about the same volume) so less impact from the music and also increased ear fatigue. Vinyl is analog and has limited storage space so it forces the music to be pressed on the vinyl quieter. So there is definitely the potential for improved audio quality. Of course if record labels actually utilized CDs to their potential then they would sound better, but that seems unlikely to ever change.
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