[ Post a Response | The MusicWeb Message Board ]
CELEBRATING 20,000 Classical CD reviews on-line; 21,000 visitors each day.
Return to MusicWeb International
Posted by Jim Stephens on July 22, 2006, 5:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Good Old Recordings"
24.177.76.94
To say that CD's don't sound as good as vinyl is both true and false at the same time. The "sweet" sound of vinyl is due to mechanical quadrature error in the phono cartridge, which produces a second harmonic, creating a sound that we perceive as "warm" or "sweet". CD's lack this harmonic, being a non-mechanical medium, thus we perceive them as being "dry" or "analytical". In fact they are simply cleaner due to their lack of distortion. It is the same principle that applies to the solid state vs. tube amp scenario... tubes create distortions that transistors do not, thus, "tubes sound better". So we perceive something as sounding better precisely because, from a purely technical standpoint, it sounds WORSE.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread
Thank you for using the MusicWeb Message Board.
Len Mullenger - Founder of MusicWeb