What is the difference between CD, tape and vinyl in terms of sound quality?

1, theoretically speaking, the sound quality of vinyl records and CDs can not be compared, because the former is an analog medium, recording the waveform of the sound, the latter is a digital medium, recording the 1 and 0.

2. There are always people who say that vinyl sounds good, and that's usually a preference for the sound characteristics of vinyl. However, for most listeners nowadays, they have already adapted to the sound characteristics of CDs, and the 44KHz sound quality of CDs has reached the limit of the range of the human ear on most of the earth, and CDs are digitally recorded, so they are accurate and not easy to deteriorate.

3. The difference between vinyl and CD is like the difference between a hand-drawn picture and a computer-rendered scene. In terms of sound quality and accuracy, CDs are a few steps ahead of vinyl, but music ultimately moves people by feeling rather than by purely technical sound playback.

Computer-rendered images ultimately take a lot of extra effort to create impurities that add a human touch and a sense of realism, as do CDs, and the best recordings tend to boast not so much precision as the unintentional showmanship that comes through inside the imperfections. The analog nature of vinyl dictates that all those extra noises over CDs can themselves be part of the realism and airiness, and part of the music itself.

EXTENDED INFORMATION

The great American inventor Thomas Edison invented the first tape recorder in the history of mankind in the late nineteenth century. He originally intended to promote this cylinder tape recorder as a dictation machine, but the plan met with unanimous opposition from all those secretaries who made their living by recording their bosses' speeches, and unfortunately died an untimely death. But the tape recorder found a place in the music market. People could enjoy all kinds of music from their home recorders simply by buying a recording cylinder.

Almost simultaneously, the mechanical piano (pianola) was invented. This was a piano that was operated by perforated paper tape, so that you could buy a roll of paper tape and enjoy solo piano performances by famous musicians in "high fidelity" on a mechanical piano at home. This new game greatly contributed to the popularization of "ragtime" music (Ragtime, a kind of piano music that often uses syncopation) in the United States. "Ragtime was arguably the first purely American form of music not found in Europe, and is recognized as one of the precursors to jazz.

These two inventions fundamentally changed the way music was appreciated. Previously, people either had to play the piano themselves or buy a ticket to hear an expert play it - in short, it wasn't so easy. With recording technology and the mechanical piano, music came into the homes of ordinary people for the first time. These two inventions also created the modern model of the music industry, attracting many talented people to specialize in music production and laying the foundation for a thriving music culture.

References

Records_Baidu Encyclopedia