HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

CD sales are being neglected to promote high-profit vinyl editions.

https://superdeluxeedition.com/comment/ ... in-the-uk/

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 2:00 pm CD sales are being neglected to promote high-profit vinyl editions.

https://superdeluxeedition.com/comment/ ... in-the-uk/

A good point at the end saying the future of CD being better if they were better dynamically mastered.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 5:48 pm
A good point at the end saying the future of CD being better if they were better dynamically mastered.

Some are, many are not.

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:06 pm

CN211276 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 5:48 pm
A good point at the end saying the future of CD being better if they were better dynamically mastered.

Some are, many are not.

Many of the new releases from artists I like are brickwalled, most have far too much compression. The situation has got worse in the last ten years.

Reissue specialists like Esoteric and Rhino do take a lot of care with the audio quality and don't brick wall or overtly compress the sound.

For the rest, poor audio quality on modern CD releases is being used by record companies as leverage to get people to buy 'better-sounding' vinyl at enormously inflated prices.

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 7:09 pm

For the rest, poor audio quality on modern CD releases is being used by record companies as leverage to get people to buy 'better-sounding' vinyl at enormously inflated prices.

Rolling Stones Hacnkney Diamonds being a prime example. I'm sure it would sound better on a decent vinyl front end than state of art digital.

Guilty as I am of still buying vinyl I find, irrespective of sound quality, I think I'm more relaxed listening to CDs.
I'm not distracted listening for surface noises or wondering about mis-tracking.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 8:07 pm

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 7:09 pm

For the rest, poor audio quality on modern CD releases is being used by record companies as leverage to get people to buy 'better-sounding' vinyl at enormously inflated prices.

Rolling Stones Hacnkney Diamonds being a prime example. I'm sure it would sound better on a decent vinyl front end than state of art digital.

Black Sabbath's 13 was another example of this, dreadful CD, the vinyl I heard, not so bad.

We've come full circle (if you'll excuse the pun) at the dawn of Cd most new LP's suddenly seemed to be on a supermodels diet. I have some extremely emaciated discs from that time and thought that it was the record co's ploy to get us all to move to CD because vinyl sounded 'inferior'.

Hey ho, how long until the hifi cognoscenti start mining their lofts and listening to cassettes as the new,new thing, I gather it's out there and building momentum.

Having invested quite a bit in what I consider to be a very good digital front end I would never go back to vinyl. That said I won't buy the brickwalled CDs which are all the rage today. Quite happy to stream on Qobuz. I do buy CDs second hand from way back with decent DR. Ripped to WAV they are a far more enjoyable listen than recent remasters.