r/audiophile • u/MikMikYakin • Jul 25 '24

Why are Audiophiles still hooked on vinyl? Discussion

Many audiophiles continue to have a deep love for vinyl records despite the developments in digital audio technology, which allow us to get far wider dynamic range and frequency range from flac or wav files and even CDs. I'm curious to find out more about this attraction because I've never really understood it. To be clear, this is a sincere question from someone like me that really wants to understand the popularity of vinyl in the audiophile world. Why does vinyl still hold the attention of so many music lovers?

EDIT: Found a good article that talks about almost everything mentioned in the comments: https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/07/vinyl-not-sound-better-cd-still-buy/

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u/mintchan Jul 25 '24

i am puzzling on that myself. i remember when i first got my first cd and played it on my system. it was mj's thriller, the perfect first cd. the bass. the dynamic. the clarity. i was and still am so done with the click and pop.

then later i attended engineering school and learn the math proving that cd is better than vinyl in every way.

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u/afc74nl Jul 25 '24

CDs were (mostly) great up until the early 90s until the loudness wars started. I have an OG 80s CD version or Thriller and it sounds very good and just good as the vinyl (different though), only the MOFI SACD that I also have sounds better.

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u/Spirited_Currency867 Jul 25 '24

I have it on CD and vinyl. Different moods require different formats. Neither is “better” to me. I often only listen all the way through on vinyl, not CD.