Does Vinyl Sound Better?

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My theory is that people prefer the mixing on vinyl releases. They are in fact mixed differently in order to cope with the technical limitations of the vinyl medium.

I think what most people are "preferring" is the compressed dynamic range. In many cases it sounds better to me as well, but turn the volume up to reference and the illusion falls apart.

The genres I enjoy on vinyl don't typically exercise the full 90+dB of range available in CD audio. Electronic, pop, metal, rock, etc seem to sound approximately the same to me between the two.

Classical & jazz are where the magic of vinyl breaks down for me. When I am listening to a recording of a concert hall, I want to experience more than 50-60dB of dynamic range. I prefer the contrast between the solo flute and the percussionist w/ the gigantic mallet to be as pronounced as possible.

Direct-Cut vinyl is definitely better. But hard to find and expensive.

stereo graphic vinyl can be more colorful[0]

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=S2X5JSlet2M

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