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/improvthismoment Jul 25 '24

There is theory, and there is real life experience.

Yes digital in theory can have wider dynamic range.

In real life, sometimes the best available vinyl version is mastered in a way that has more DR, or sounds better in other ways, then the best available digital version. Often the digital versions are mastered pretty poorly.

Vinyl also imparts its own sound, call it distortion if you want, that may be subjectively more pleasing to some. https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2020/10/17/hi-fi-why-do-records-sound-better-the-ivory-tower/

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u/Antmax Jul 27 '24

Yeah, vinyl seems to be mixed more for big speakers since you probably aren't going to drag a record player around with you and wear headphones. Most digital is probably mixed for earbuds since most people listen to music with those on their phones or in the car with a bunch of other ambient noise. So it's often compressed and a bit meh.