Music Formats and which one is the way to go?
With the resurgence of vinyl, which is a 73 years old format at this point, one might ask the question, “How come a format as old as my grandma is still in use?”. On the surface, listening to music from a record player in 2021 seems like nothing more than a novelty. However, when you start to dig deeper, you will realize that it is not that simple.
In this short article, I will try to compare vinyl, CD(compact disc), and streaming with each other by looking at their different aspects.
1- Convenience
Life is already hard and complicated enough, we don’t need another hassle. Today, you can stream your music from any “smart” device. That means a wide range from your smartphone to your smart fridge in your kitchen. You are always one touch away from listening to your favorite tracks. That still sounds crazy! Thus, streaming is the clear winner here.
If we compare CD to vinyl, it’s an easy win for the CD. Maybe you can’t listen to a CD with your fridge, but you can still listen to it while driving and there are many portable CD players available.
With vinyl, however, there’s not much of a choice, because most of the record players are meant to be stationary. (Though, I am aware that “suitcase turntable”s are a thing. The problem with those is that they are too heavy and bulky to be called portable.) On top of that, you have to flip the record to continue listening to the disc.
2- Audio quality
Of course, we can’t argue about audio formats without talking about their fidelity.
Vinyl is an analog format, while CD and streaming are digital. Comparing their data rate is quite a complicated topic. There are endless discussions about this issue on the internet. However, what most people overlook is that 99% of the vinyl pressed today isn’t cut directly from analog tapes. Instead of that, they are using digital files, and for a good pressing, the files used should be at least 96 kHz 24 bit. (Though, keep in mind that an analog tape can easily surpass that, but many original tapes don’t contain the information they once did, due to various factors.) 96 kHz 24 bit has a data rate of 4608kbps. Thus, for simplicity’s sake, I am going to accept vinyl records have a bitrate of 4608kbps.
With that out of the way, let’s start comparing. Vinyl’s bitrate is 4,608 kbps, CD’s bitrate is 1,411 kbps. In the case of streaming, Spotify Premium is 320 kbps, Deezer HiFi has 1,411 kbps files, and Tidal Hifi membership even offers 4,608 kbps files for some albums. So if we summarize:
Vinyl≥ Tidal Hifi> Deezer Hifi=CD> Spotify Premium
So that’s all there is to it? Not quite, actually. The bulk of the population including me, can’t tell the difference after the CD. Also, if you’re not paying attention to what you’re listening to, again, you are not going to notice the difference. Also besides that, vinyl records will always have clicks and pops to some degree, which is not a problem in digital formats.
If that is the case, why people say vinyl sounds better or warmer? Are they just wrong? The answer to that question is: no they’re not.
Let’s talk about mastering. Very basically put, mastering is the process of preparing a mixed album for duplication and distribution. This affects the sound a lot more than the difference in bitrates. As of today, digital formats still suffer from the loudness war.
for those who are further interested: Example, Dynamic range database
As you can see from the database, most of the time vinyl has the highest dynamic range. Though, be aware that a higher dynamic range doesn’t always equate to a better sound. However, a CD with a dynamic range of 3 will sound bad no matter what.
By the way, not all CDs have a low dynamic range. Generally, before the late 90s, CDs had decent dynamic ranges. However, some of those come at a really steep price.
All in all, if you want to listen to your favorite songs in their best shape, vinyl seems like your best bet.
3- Pricing
This one is rather straight forward. On average, a brand new vinyl record costs about 16 to 30 dollars and a brand new CD costs around 10 to 20 dollars. If we are talking about rare pressings, the price could reach ridiculous heights. Compared to streaming, those are terribly expensive. Spotify premium costs 10 dollars a month. Meaning, for 10 dollars, you can listen to any album you like. In this aspect, Streaming is the clear winner without a doubt.
4- Extras
Even though I mentioned audio quality quite a bit, that’s not the reason why vinyl is popular today. The top 5 best selling turntables on Amazon are all “suitcase turntable”s. Those kinds of turntables are of poor quality. Thus, things mentioned about vinyl’s audio quality doesn’t really apply to those turntables. Then why do people keep buying these expensive chunks of plastic? Can’t say for certain, but it’s probably about cosmetics. By buying a vinyl record, you get a bigger artwork of the album and sometimes an extra like a poster. With CD, you get a smaller artwork and a small booklet sometimes. With streaming, however, you physically get nothing.
In conclusion, there’s no winner. Just like your music preference, it boils down to you, in the end. Though, my preferred way of listening to music is vinyl. I would advise if you haven’t heard a vinyl record playing on a proper turntable, you should. After all, even Steve Jobs, the man who revolutionized the music distribution with iTunes, listened to vinyl.
Sources:
1- https://www.whathifi.com/advice/high-resolution-audio-everything-you-need-to-know
3- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
4- https://www.oregonlive.com/music/2014/11/does_vinyl_really_sound_better.html
