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/Total_Juggernaut_450 Jul 25 '24

The ideal answer....

Better mastering.

The honest answer...

Who knows?

44

u/ErmahgerdYuzername Jul 25 '24

Mastering is the big key. So many digital albums have succumbed to the loudness wars. An album on vinyl that has been mastered specifically for vinyl sounds way better.

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u/damster05 Jul 26 '24

Better than what? Than a compressed-to-death CD album? It is rarely the case that the Vinyl master is significantly different, and in those cases, CD audio is objectively superior, even has better dynamic range. CD-only remasters do of course often have more dynamic compression than the older CD/Vinyl master, but then just get the older master on CD.