Poll: Vinyl, CD or MP3

[searanox]

MP3s can sound just as good as a DVD copy, you just need to get them at a high bit-rate so as not to lose the quality.

MP3 is a lossy audio codec. Even the highest bitrates, either fixed or variable, are still sacrificing audio information. With good encoders like LAME, this is not as much of an issue, but other encoders tend to be not so great and in my experience make the audio quite muddy and poor. Certain types of music also suffer more than others; in rock music that has distorted guitars and even overdrive on the whole mix, the distortion and artifacts the MP3 encoding causes will not be noticeable in most cases, but in classical music, pop music, softer rock-based music, etc., MP3 is not nearly as flattering.

Furthermore, you are still going to be limited by your equipment. If you are listening on anything but audiophile headphones, studio monitors or expensive tower speakers (in the $2,000 or above range), you likely will not notice a huge difference, especially if you don't have a good amp or preamp in use. If you have spent a good deal of money on a high quality stereo system of some sort (no, that stuff you bought from Best Buy does not count) then the difference will be immediately obvious to you unless you've got a set of tin ears.

The issue with MP3 is that while it provides "good enough" audio fidelity for most people, for those who want uncompressed, truly high-quality audio, it simply does not cut it (even CDs have their downsides compared to the original source material). The move towards MP3 because of its increased convenience and popularity means that we may see the death of high-quality audio in the consumer market, and it would be a complete tragedy.

 

[tk1989]

Definitely vinyl; gives the best sound quality out of all of them! Combine that with a sweet valve sound system and you have yourself a heck of a rig

Really, I always thought vinyl was low quality. Put anything through a valve system and it will sound good.

I'd say CD, don't they contain MP3's anyway.
Perhaps you should replace MP3's with MP3 players or electronically stored.

I prefer the warmer and more natural sound with vinyl, which is why its fitting to connect them more than anything else to a valve system

CDs use .WAV files, its a none lossy format, not MP3s. Have you ever wondered why an MP3 is only a couple MB yet you cant fit 200 songs on a normal cd despite the fact that they are 700 MB? Whenever you burn a CD with MP3s (unless, ofc you are making an MP3 CD, totlly different thing) your pc will convert the files to .WAV format, which are significantly larger in size.

 

[ICantBelieveItGoesBoom]

vinyl for it's sound but mp3 for it's ease of use

The problem with mp3 files is that they are so unpersonal, with a CD or Vinyl you have the disk and the cover so you actually "own" the music.

Yeah that.

[/lazypost]

 

[Nimbus]

What about FLAC files? I don't listen to them personally, but I hear the sound quality is unparralleled. I myself use mp3s.

 

[Nimbus]

Definitely vinyl; gives the best sound quality out of all of them! Combine that with a sweet valve sound system and you have yourself a heck of a rig

Really, I always thought vinyl was low quality. Put anything through a valve system and it will sound good.

I'd say CD, don't they contain MP3's anyway.
Perhaps you should replace MP3's with MP3 players or electronically stored.

I prefer the warmer and more natural sound with vinyl, which is why its fitting to connect them more than anything else to a valve system

CDs use .WAV files, its a none lossy format, not MP3s. Have you ever wondered why an MP3 is only a couple MB yet you cant fit 200 songs on a normal cd despite the fact that they are 700 MB? Whenever you burn a CD with MP3s (unless, ofc you are making an MP3 CD, totlly different thing) your pc will convert the files to .WAV format, which are significantly larger in size.

I'm almost completely certain that most CDs use the .CDA format. Unless CDA and WAV are the same thing...?

 

[Madshaw]

vinyl might sound nicer but its 2 impractical for me, but i don't trust mp3s enough and i like having a disc and the booklet and the album cover and all the rest of it, so i'm voting for cds

 

[tk1989]

Definitely vinyl; gives the best sound quality out of all of them! Combine that with a sweet valve sound system and you have yourself a heck of a rig

Really, I always thought vinyl was low quality. Put anything through a valve system and it will sound good.

I'd say CD, don't they contain MP3's anyway.
Perhaps you should replace MP3's with MP3 players or electronically stored.

I prefer the warmer and more natural sound with vinyl, which is why its fitting to connect them more than anything else to a valve system

CDs use .WAV files, its a none lossy format, not MP3s. Have you ever wondered why an MP3 is only a couple MB yet you cant fit 200 songs on a normal cd despite the fact that they are 700 MB? Whenever you burn a CD with MP3s (unless, ofc you are making an MP3 CD, totlly different thing) your pc will convert the files to .WAV format, which are significantly larger in size.

I'm almost completely certain that most CDs use the .CDA format. Unless CDA and WAV are the same thing...?

Meh; technically CDs dont use the WAV format, they use Red Book Audio. Both formats however are encoded in PCM, so essentially they are the same in most respects.

 

[fix-the-spade]

CD!

Vinyl lack survivability, quite often it lacks sounds quality as well (only the very best recordings have that 'full' sound vinyl fans talk about so often, many records just sound mumbled and cheap).
I don't like MP3 for the same reason, there's no physical back up unless you burn it to a CD, at which point you become a pirate and Steve Jobs regards you as no longer human. I also dislike the lack of physical interaction with MP3, there's nothing to see.

CDs fit the middle ground for me, even cheap recordings from no name labels can have decent sound quality, whilst the cases maintain the scope for interesting cover art. The discs themselves can have their own distinct artwork as well, which i always a plus.

 

[superbleeder12]

I'd like to migrate my entire collection to FLAC, but it would quadruple the space taken, and most MP3 players don't support it.

 

[Cowabungaa]

MP3 for portability. And while vinyl might give a better sound quality, aren't they much less durable?

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Cd's. I was born at the advent of the CD. They have great sound quality and are better than those rubbish MP3's, which just don't feel real enough. I wan't physical evidence that I have my music. If I want to put something on my zune, I rip one of my numerous CD's.

 

[atv_chic_18]

Where's the other option? I love vinyl for the good sound and just fact of it. But I also love mp3

 

[Flying-Emu]

Simple question, which do you prefer.

Personally it's vinyl all the way, such a full sound.

It's also incredibly old and therefore collectible. You get to be like an archaeologist whenever you go buy vinyl. Except you're uncovering music!

 

[jim_doki]

Edison Wax Cylinders. the best way to listen to ANYTHING, from Slayer to the MLK speech

 

[Bulletmagnet125]

Kinda hard to pirate anything but MP3 because it would involve actually going outside and stealing something and I'm not up for that.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I like the sound of Vinyl. It sounds so much more full and natural. But my iPod can't play Vinyl and I'm not going to shell out 150 bucks for a vinyl to mp3 converter.

 

[Yegargeburble]

MP3s. Easier for me to download and play them.

 

[sms_117b]

MP3 all the way for me, I just don't see the point in Vinal anymore.

 

[jezz8me]

Depends what i am listening to. For modern rock and more modern types of music in general CD is better. For jazz, blues, soul, classical and things more like post-punk as well as experimental music i find that vinyl is much better even on my horrible player.

I use alot of Apple Lossless format and mp3 however because of convenience but always try to get a cd or vinyl and usualy do unless it is something like Asylum Party which is out of print.