CD versus LP

Dear Dr. Jon Wong,

Hi, I wanted to know what are the different in audio performance between a turntable and CD player

Casrol

Hi Casrol

Wow, this is a big question!

CD appeared in the market in the early 80s. Because of the easy storage and repeatability of the media, it soon replaced the turntable because of its conveniences. However, in early days the sound quality of CD was poor due to lower technologies in digital and analog electronics.

Today, mid priced CD players already can deliver very good performances due to advances in IC designs and fabrication. Any mid priced player will sound so much better than my first generation NEC player, which was the best during that time.

However, if you are really after the ultimate sound, the turntable is still the thing to go for. It is because the CD has to ‘miss out’ a lot of music information during the Analog to Digital conversion process in order to pack the music into a 650Mb media. The LP can store a lot of information, but at the expense of susceptibility to external interferences.

Be prepared to pay a lot of money for a LP system. Also, be prepared to put in a lot of effort in setting up, running and maintaining an analog system.

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