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WHY DOES DIGITAL MUSIC SOUND SO CHITTY?

Digital music (CD'S,MP3's) sound like they were recorded in a TIN CAN.Any idea why this is? Analog (Vinyl) sounds so far superior it isn't funny anymore!!!

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  • 2 months ago
    Favorite Answer

    Well in most cases vinyl is better BUT that will depend on the quality of the recording, how it was mastered, the quality of the turntable, phono cartridge, phono preamplifier, and how well it is calibrated.  And of course the audio system in general.  So yes vinyl is in most cases a significantly better sounding format if all things are done well.  

    Digital can vary greatly too both in the recording, digital recording bit rate and sample rate, as well as the playback equipment and system as a whole.  

    Most digital should sound pretty good though, your either listening to MP3’s and or on a bad sounding player.  

    But yes overall “in most cases” vinyl will sound significantly better.

    Those who poo poo vinyl and claim digital is better simply have never heard good analog playback and spew specification numbers to tell you, see the numbers tell you its better.  As if higher dynamic range numbers tell you its going to give you superior sound.

    Much more to better sound then some numbers. Those are the same people who think and buy speakers and equipment by specifications.  That is simply because they don't trust their own ears.  

  • Anonymous
    4 weeks ago

    I agree with you, that is because the output of DAC is a stairstep wave. The enginer say that with proper filtering, you can get back the natural analog sound wave, I don't believe this.

    Source(s): My self
  • zgraf
    Lv 4
    1 month ago

    A recording that sounds like it was done inside a "tin can"?   I'm going to say that it is likely less due to digital artifacts and more due to bad decisions made during the recording process.  Perhaps the recording and mixing engineers didn't pay attention to placement of sound-sources and to proper panning of sounds.  They may have recorded in a poor choice of a venue.  They may not have made good mixing decisions.  The mastering engineer may have used track reverb and final mix verb that was "too small" or inappropriate.  Or maybe people just didn't care...   Yeah.  That's it.

  • garry
    Lv 6
    2 months ago

    bull , analoge records are  recorder on 18 kilohertz and cd use a rate of 48 kilohertz ,  mp3 can be recoded in the range from 28 kilohertz up to 320 kilohertz, even a cassette is better than a record , get you facts right .ask and sound studio man that .

  • ?
    Lv 4
    2 months ago

    It is because of the channels that have bits of the music on it. 

  • Anonymous
    2 months ago

    Pretty sure if I played you a 320 bit mp3 and the same song on Vinyl, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

  • 2 months ago

    Tony B. A good portion of my collection of vinyl dates to the mid 1950's ORIGINAL PRESSINGS.The "Digital Crap" are CD and MP3.JUST AWFUL..:(

  • Tony B
    Lv 4
    2 months ago

    I'm wondering what digital music you're listening to and what with (equipment).

    Unless you are listening to old records (bought before digital recording and processing was the norm) you are still listening to “digital music”. Almost all records now are made from a digital source.

  • Lance
    Lv 7
    2 months ago

    One of the problems with modern recordings is the attitude of the Mastering Technicians...Back in the hey day of analog. Mastering artists  were taken quite seriously and they also tried to live up to the acclaim and reputation by pushing the envelope. They were considered artists...Today even though digital offers much more potential its just not being utilized and pushed the way analog was in its hey day...CD does have the potential to sound better and it has improved a lot in the last ten years but most recordings today are compressed and dry the goal being to sound good on cell phones with ear buds....CD players along with mastering equipment have improved though...So if you get yourself a more modern CD player that may help... The DAC's inside have improved...They have better resolution and also they are more musical...Digital will always sound different than analog but at least today there are a few people who understand what digital music should sound like not many but a few. One of the problems is that digital is so complex..and their is probably very few people that understand all the complexities involved and all the chances for error not to mention how to improve those complexities and not only reduce error but make it sound better...Its not just a matter of throwing more bits at the problem in fact doing that increases the chances for error...does not reduce it...etc.....

  • 2 months ago

    You must have a really, really abysmal system or source media if CD is not vastly better than vinyl.

    CD audio (from an original, commercial CD) has around 30db better signal to noise ratio and much flatter frequency response.

    MP3 uses lossy compression so cannot be considered a reliable reference source.

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