[Audio Empire]

Thought I's stir up some activity here. This place is as dead as a sail-cat.
Most of those who contribute here seem to be of two minds with regard to the
question of which is more "musical", LP or CD. There is also a third point of
view (mine) which says that both have their place and both are viable music
sources and can be enjoyable. The recent surge in activity (and I don't mean
disc jockeys at dance clubs) with regard to LP tells me that I'm not alone in
this view.

In spite of what those dedicated to the LP might say, the bare facts are that
theoretically, technologically speaking, CD is better. It just is. Setting
aside, for the moment, such obvious advantages as lack of noise, durability
(CDs, generally speaking do not deteriorate with each play, given reasonable
care. LPs OTOH, do deteriorate irrespective of the level of care given them.)
and a total absence of such vinyl bugaboos like wow, flutter, running at the
wrong speed (unless the analog tape source for the CD had these problems - a
not unheard of phenomenon), not to mention inner-groove distortion, and
general mistracking, CD is just capable of flatter, wider frequency response,
lower distortion, wider dynamic range and better stereo separation. This
being the case, why is there any debate on this issue at ALL? And make no
mistake, one runs upon people all the time who will tell you that even after
\almost thrity years of development, that LP is better. Just recently, I was
reading the letters-to-the-editor section of a well known and respected
audiophile magazine and found a letter from someone who finished his pean to
LP playback (a Garrard 301 turntable, specifically) with the words "I
wouldn't have a CD player if you gave me one." Surely, such passion has some
root. We can't put it all down to luddite-ism. Interest in LP is growing -
even among the young who weren't even around in LP's heyday. I recently got a
newly released integrated amplifier from a respected hi-end source which
sports both MM and MC cartridge inputs as well as a built-in 24-bit/192 KHz
dual differential DAC and an ADC (for record out)! So why is LP still seen as
a viable alternative to CD?

Well, I know my reasons for continuing to enjoy LP along with CD, SACD, DVD-A
and high-resolution downloads as well as internet radio (more about this
latter source another time), but the reason why many don't find CD to be all
that superior to LPs is based on a very simple conclusion. While CD SHOULD be
superior to LP, and certainly CAN be superior to LP, it is usually far worse.
The fact is that most commercial CDs sound wretched. They are overproduced
(or indifferently produced) , compressed, limited and generally aimed at the
lowest common denominator. *This problem isn't just limited to pop music
either. I find that it crosses all musical genres and barriers. The average
CD is just junk in my humble opinion. And I know that it doesn't have to be.
Those of you who have been reading my ramblings here, know that I do a lot of
recording. The recording I do is for fun, and not for commercial gain, but
often I do get paid for my efforts making me a "semi-pro" these day. This
wasn't always the case. A number of years ago, I was the archive recordist or
a couple of major symphony orchestras and did a lot of location music
recording for National Public Radio and the Musical Heritage Society - and
actually have a number of records to my credit.

When I make CDs from my masters (which are in the DSD format) they sound
gorgeous and NOTHING like 99% of all the commercial recordings one buys. If
all CDs sounded like the ones that I burn on my PC from music files off of my
DSD recorder, there would be no debate about CD vs LP. CD is simply better.
Unfortunately, as long as the commercial record labels continue to make such
unmitigated garbage and sell it as state-of-the-art CD recordings, many
people are going to prefer LPs because it looks as if the signal processing
needed to make an LP is, in the final analysis, less damaging to the music
than is the signal processing routinely applied to commercial CD production
these days.