Listening test - do you prefer CD or vinyl version

Which file do you prefer, by listening?

  • 1.wav

    Votes: 12 35.3%

  • a.wav

    Votes: 20 58.8%

  • They both sound same

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
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#121
There's quite a bit of subsonic noise in the vinyl, around 10-11 Hz - and it peaks at less than 20dB down - presumably the usual TT artifacts. I wonder how much of a difference this would make in some people's systems, because that signal is constantly modulating at least part of the chain?
 
#123
I've mentioned a couple of times that the sound degraded as it progressed through the vinyl rip, 1.wav, so I just started investigating to see if there is some overall indicator in the waveforms, of something altering. I equalised to brickwall at 10kHz, discarding all lower frequencies of the two versions - because the "funny stuff" usually happens in the treble - and there are some quite distinctive characteristics in the remaining, pure upper treble; the left channel of the vinyl gets busier and busier as it progresses - for the MP3 it remains constant - and, the dynamic range of this part of the spectrum drops off in the right channel of the vinyl, compared to MP3.

At the beginning of the track the two versions are a reasonably good match, at a simple visual level, but the behaviour of the vinyl starts showing a variation fairly soon - is this what I'm hearing? Some more investigation, I think ...
 
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#124
The LF and HF difference can be clearly seen when we plot spectra of both complete files with peak+hold function.
 

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#126
I'used headphones and Foobar.
I started to listen to 1inv first and much disliked it.
I then listened to 1 which I found better, and then a.
Finally I voted for 1.
The more I did comparisons between the three,
jumping from one to another,
the less I could find them different.
 
#128
Mooly said:
In Audacity I also noticed the two spikes at 60 and 120Hz but was surprised they were present on both versions. I thought anything like that would have been on the phono stage only. Seems to be on the master though.
Click to expand...
It sounds a lot like studio hum to me, typical of the time period. And since I heard it on both, it was pretty clearly not the phono stage. 🙂
 
#129
Re-sampling files to lower rate improves low frequency resolution with modest sized FFT;

Here are overlays of FR for CD and vinyl versions with conversion to 882Hz sample rate:

CD v LP fs882.png

Cantilever and tonearm form two conical pendulums connected by cantilever suspension. Mass of tonearm, cartridge, and counterweight bob about tonearm pivot. Every little motion of stylus pumps the tonearm. This is aggravated by tonearm resonance. Tiny offset of LP center hole and snugness of fit to platter spindle pump the tonearm with every revolution of the platter.

Modulation of all the sub sonic garbage with audio band is part of vinyl sound. Result is similar to intermodulation distortion of speaker driver.

When woofer, full range speaker, or headphones are driven with such signals IMD happens.
 
#130
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