After reading a Vinyl LP vs. CD sound quality thread on a KISS website, I decided to put the question here and see what you guys think, as you have vast experience in buying both LPs and CDs (especially Jimbo).

So, what's better? LP or CD?

And why...?

LPs sound better for warmth......but I couldn't take the pops and scratches.

..........so I only buy CDs.

Damn. I can't vote because it all depends.

I don't like surface noise, but other than that, good vinyl on a VERY GOOD system is tough to beat.

Some CDs sound incredible (especially SACD).

I like vinyl AND CD!

Anything beats MP3!

Oh, I wish you'd have included a BD-A/DVD-A/SACD option in the poll. Optical hi-res is the best of both worlds.

I'm not going to vote due to both Linda's statement above & the variables I list below, & so much is dependent on the mastering/pressing; a/d convertors & playback equipment.

In my experience, if this was 1992 & I was comparing just about any cd on a $2k player vs a well mastered LP on a well set up $2k turntable/cartridge rig, it would be a slam dunk for the LP; though LP requires a lot more work to sound good: proper alignment, capacitance matching between the cartridge & preamp,Somewhat frequent replacement of needles & cartridges, an anti stat gun, for those whose are really concerned with sound a record vacuum, or at least a cleaning device (I never made it past a $10 brush) & a decent pressing (USA pressings were considered some of the worst in the world, though Mexico, China, Israel & a few others were worse). Both LP & CD require decent interconnects; cd has the additional requirement of a power conditioner, a quality digital cable (if you have a 2 box player) & an aftermarket power cord to sound there best.

Even in the early days when most cd's sounded like poop (the brickwalled ones still do, but they weren't using brickwalling in the early days; the first brickwalled ones I remember were the Ryko Bowies, & they're nothing compared to what they're doing today), do you prefer phasey, distorted, muddy sound with little to no depth (many early cd's) or scratches, inner groove distortion, deteriorating masters as the press run gets near the end of a given stamper's life span (I have never heard if this effects cd), warping, etc. Fortunately most vinyl doesn't get nearly as much volume compression as cd, because the needle would literally jump off the record. That's why LP's are natively pressed bass deficient & than boosted with the RIAA eq curve built into the phono preamp. That's another HUGE issue for me; the ridiculous volume wars, which sound even worse in digital because jitter tends to already cause a boost from 1-4k, which the brickwalling grotesquely exaggerates.

WITH GOOD MASTERING (not at all necessarily the case, probably not even 50% of the time), I would tend to agree with Linda's statement. And the playback equipment still makes a HUGE difference.

Perhaps the poll should have been vinyl versus digital formats. In any event, I greatly prefer the convenience of digital formats, not to mention the fact that no matter how much I play something, it doesn't degrade in quality.

.flac files

I was thinking that I had left that one out & it definitely matters imo.

This is such a tough question to answer, and it all depends on the equipment you're using & the particular CD or LP you're playing. I ended up going with CDs since a well produced, mixed & mastered CD on a decent system will always sound great, while the best-maintained LP will eventually develop pops & crackles. I love those sounds (I'm hearing them as I type this), but it does distract from the music at times.

Vinyl

There is no definitive answer. It depends hugely on the hardware and the mastering, but I think vinyl requires a considerably larger investment to sound as good as a CD. At the top end, I have no idea -- I haven't heard the best turntables in the world or the best CD players. On my relatively modest hardware, high-definition digital, and BluRay audio in particular, is hard to beat. I have some vinyl that sounds really great, redbook CDs that sound really great, and DVD-A/SACD/BluRay audio discs that sound really great.

But nothing, NOTHING, sounds as good as eight track. The industry shut that format down years ago because it was too good, and they knew they would sell more product with vinyl and digital formats battling for superiority.

I've still got my 8-track player and even Clint Eastwood can't pry it from my cold fingers!

In 1992 I owned a Well Tempered Record Player coupled with a Blue Point & it definitely opened my eyes. My best previous tables had been various Duals, B&O's & Philips with the top of the line Audio Technica Cartridge, & there was NO comparison. The WTRP DESTROYED all the mass market TT's by comparison. If i had heard it before I got rid of 1/2 my LP collection for cd I might have never gone cd.

I will admit I don't miss the HASSLE of playing records; but I do miss the sound & the larger liner notes. CD box sets tend to be cheaper than their LP equivalents; on the other hand the 1-3 cd sets were 2-4 times more expensive until quite recently, & the high rez is at minimum 2 1/2 times more expensive than the last high quantity production LP's.

One edge LPs have on CDs---the larger size of the LP shows off the cover art better.

And the other side of the coin is it takes up alot more space!

I'm identical to Charles on this one.

Nothing sounds quite like an LP heard over a good set of headphones. But records are a pain to store and way too susceptible to damage. If I ever became wealthy, I might get back into vinyl, but I doubt it.

I bought my first CD player, a Magnavox CDB-650 for around $400, back in 1987 from Crazy Eddie's somewhere in midtown Manhattan. It came with a deal for 10 free CD's, one of which was Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms". I couldn't wait to get back to my apartment and hook this baby up. I plugged it in to my old Yamaha R9 Receiver and could not believe what I DIDN'T HEAR: Clicks, Crackle, Pops, Hum! Just powerful crystal clear music came out of my Criterion 2001's. My old Lafayette belt drive died that day and so began my quest to replace all my old LPs with CD's. My old vinyl collection is mostly replaced and I have never, ever missed it. OK, I admit I sometimes missed the old gatefold LP's which made for great de-seeding (Led Zeppelin IV got quite a work out), but then came sinsemilla. Seriously, I understand people getting misty about the old days of Mix Tapes and Vinyl, I have fond memories of them as well. But IMHO Vinyl will never top CD's for sound. Now when it comes to Multichannel BD audio........the future is now.

Much like Mr. Fuse, I got a Sony D-5 "portable" CD player in 1985 and never looked back. No surface noise, just great sounding music. And you could jump from one track to another instantly. Eventually my Empire Troubador turntable went into a closet where it still resides today. In the intervening almost 30 years CDs of any variety have only gotten better. LPs still require incredible care and a pair of soft, non-static gloves. Who needs it?

I own both and I'm glad I do. My CD collection has migrated upstairs (for the most part) where I listen to it on a decent cd boombox. I listen to records on my system downstairs, where the fidelity comes through more clearly. But I like owning both, partially because there are things on record I STILL can't find on cd, partially because there was a loooong time when I got tons of great vinyl for practically nothing, and partially because the high ends come through on vinyl in a way they don't on CD.

CDs by far, but vinyl does have a special sound despite limitations.

I do like vinyl and I'm sure plenty here do.

But...

Hipsters will go for vinyl. Why? Because they're hipsters Daddy-O! If I could hear hipsters getting vinyl cracked over their heads, then it's vinyl by a mile.

Sometimes I wonder if I've become a middle aged hipster...hope I'm not but does anyone really know?

A thought for a different thread!