Quote:
Originally Posted by JackieBlue
Rumen, what am I looking at here? The images look very similar to me except for color. Am I missing something? Or is that your point, maybe? That there isn't a lot of difference?
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The arctic blue color from picture1 is the wavefrom of the LP version (528 248-1 1995) and in dark blue you can see the CD version that came out in 1995 (528-248-2). Picture 2: In green is the LP version and in grey the remastered CD version (538-036-2_EU 199
Subjectively, the LP does sound slightly more dynamic than the CD. Somebody (myself included) could say that the vinyl version of These Days provides a warmth and richer sound that the digital These Days formats don't. But that subjective judgment shouldn't be equated with better audio quality. I agree with Ice that a well mastered CD will sound better than any vinyl. In my opinion the LP simply couldn't compete technically with the CD.
Anyway, as I already told you "the warmth thing" is a subjective matter, but as we can see comparing just the waveforms of those 3 files (LP, 528 248-1 (1995) - CD, 528-248-2(1995) - CD, 538-036-2_EU(1998 REmaster) ), it's pretty clear that the LP version has higher relative dynamics. I can also extract a version of My guitar from the double CD version 532 644-2 (1996), but in my opinion it's pointless, because I think the waveform will be almost exact copy of 528-248-2 (1995).
Also we can see that the CD waveforms are noticeably compressed and the average volume level is boosted almost as high as possible. When I took a look at the spectral view, on the CD there was no spectral information above 20kHz . In comparison, on the LP spectral view there appears to be some frequency content up to around 25kHz. Of course a possible reason for that could be that the LP version has higher harmonic distortion which makes higher frequency.
So, in conclusion, I would say that in my opinion the sound of the digital recordings is slightly clearer. Also we know that the LPs deteriorate with every play and as like Ice said any medium can be ruined by mastering everything loud and flat. Once the dynamic range is gone, it generally can't be added back. At least to my ears the LP version of These Days sounds a little warmer compared to the CDs and the sound gives me the feeling that I'm listening to a well balanced live performance.