WEBVTT - Is the sound on vinyl records better than on CDs?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff front House, stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,

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<v Speaker 1>is the sound on vinyl records better than the sound

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<v Speaker 1>on c d s or DVDs. The answer to this

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<v Speaker 1>question lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings.

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<v Speaker 1>A vinyl record is an analog recording, and CDs and

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<v Speaker 1>DVDs are digital recordings. Original sound is analog by definition,

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<v Speaker 1>so a digital recording takes snapshots of that analog signal

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<v Speaker 1>at a certain rate. For CDs, it's forty four thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred times per second. It also measures each snapshot

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<v Speaker 1>with a certain accuracy. For CDs, it's a sixteen bit number,

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<v Speaker 1>which means that the value must be one of sixty thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred thirty six possible values. This means that, by definition,

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<v Speaker 1>a digital recording is not capturing the complete sound wave,

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<v Speaker 1>it's approximating it with a series of steps. Some sounds

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<v Speaker 1>that have very quick transitions, such as a drumbeat, will

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<v Speaker 1>be distorted because they change too quickly for the sample rate.

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<v Speaker 1>A vinyl record, on the other hand, has a groove

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<v Speaker 1>carved into it that mirrors the original sounds wave form

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<v Speaker 1>This means that no information is lost. In theory, the

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<v Speaker 1>output of the record player is also analog and it

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<v Speaker 1>can be fed directly to your amplifier with no conversion.

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<v Speaker 1>So the wave forms from a vinyl record should be

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<v Speaker 1>more accurate and that can be heard in the richness

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<v Speaker 1>of the sound. But there is a downside. Any specks

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<v Speaker 1>of dust or damage to the disc can be heard

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<v Speaker 1>as noise or static during quiet periods and songs. This

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<v Speaker 1>noise can be heard over the music. Digital recordings don't

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<v Speaker 1>degrade over time, and if for digital recording contains silence,

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<v Speaker 1>then there will be no noise. The main ways to

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<v Speaker 1>improve the quality of a digital recording are to increase

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<v Speaker 1>the sampling rate and or to increase the accuracy of

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<v Speaker 1>the sampling. The recording industry has a standard for DVD

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<v Speaker 1>audio discs that could greatly improve the sound accuracy. There

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<v Speaker 1>are more than four times as many samples on a

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<v Speaker 1>DVD audio disc than there are on a c D,

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<v Speaker 1>and the samples are twenty four bit instead of sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>bit like on a CD. But the DVD audio format

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<v Speaker 1>has never really taken off. Apparently, CD quality sound is

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<v Speaker 1>good enough for the vast majority of listeners, do you

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<v Speaker 1>have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast, If so,

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<v Speaker 1>please send me an email at podcast at how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com. For more on this and thousands of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, go to how stuff works dot com and

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