Why do LPs sound better than CDs?

Phil Dawson

Yes, reel to reel tape can give very ggod analog sound especially at higher speeds. Also with 1/4 inch tape you can get two track machines so that each track is twice as wide. 16 track 2 inch tape machines at 30 inches per second sound so clean you don't need any noise reduction. The problem is/was that none of the reel to reel formats were very user friendly. Reel to reel machines tend to be large and they sure aren't great to work with in your car. Tape is harder to work with, can strech and the format never really caught on as a way to deliver pre-recorded music. Unfortunatly analog doesn't lend itself as well to ease of use, portability, and small size as does digital.
Phil

madmax

Someone mentioned laser disc being analog. I've heard that before. Does anyone know how that works?
madmax

therockman

Madmax, I don't know exactly how it works, but it is true that the video content of laserdiscs is analog, although the audio content on every laserdisc ever made is digital.


Rockchester

jesse_dyer

Originally posted by Phil Dawson
Unfortunatly analog doesn't lend itself as well to ease of use, portability, and small size as does digital.
Phil

Why not? There's no reason for that to be true and, as evidenced by laserdiscs, you can put analog data on a shiny metal disk. Digital may be easier for content producers to deal with and it makes it simple to move bit for bit accurate copies between media but there's nothing that prevents analog data from being small or easy to use.

therockman

Originally posted by therockman
Madmax, I don't know exactly how it works, but it is true that the video content of laserdiscs is analog, although the audio content on every laserdisc ever made is digital.


Rockchester

I was just reading a history book of digital audio, and this statement that I made earlier is incorrect. Actually laserdiscs had analog sound up untill 1987. In March of 1987 they began switching from analog sound tracks to digital audio soundtracks, (the switch being complete by the beginning of 1988). But according to this book, the picture was always in analog.