Originally posted by robjmitchell
Indeed a new vinyl LP played through a high quality amp/speakers is noticeably better than with a cd/mp3. Of course your output system has to be able to out resolve the input signal to notice a difference!
Just think about the process of digital music.
First you take an analog waveform and convert it to digital signal, destroying fine detail. Then they compress the digital signal and cut off frequencies destroying dynamic range in the process. Then the compressed file is converted back to an analog signal to be played by your amp and speakers!
The problem with vinyl is they degrade every time you play them, hence digital works better for storage and distribution at the expense of some quality loss.
Sorry, that's just not true. Of course I agree that theoretically, vinyl would not have the bit-resolution-problem as it is analog, but in reality it has less dynamic range than a CD.
Being both musician and engineer, and having worked on some recordings (recording, mixing, mastering) I still love vinyl, but it is in no way close to what digital can do in terms of audio quality.
Of course there is a debate ongoing whether vinyl sounds better than CD, simply because it sounds different (mostly due to mastering), and I think that this is a very valid discussion. Of course it always comes down to personal taste. But no one I know argues from a scientific standpoint, that vinyl is more true to the original than CD - that just simply is not true.
I think this sums it up very nice and simply without becoming too technical:
Vinyl's great, but it's not better than CDs - Vox
And on a non-scientific note: ever wonder why blues/rock/metal/etc guys still love to buy vinyl, while no fan of classical music would ever go back to vinyl after having a taste of CD grade quality?