4 ms·

I don't understand, how does vinyl improve the noise floor issue?

• JohnBooty 5y ago
  I probably could have phrased that better. What I mean is: - vinyl is technically inferior to CD-quality digital audio, by a longshot - one reason among others is: vinyl's noise floor is higher than CD-quality digital audio - however, the "disadvantages" of vinyl are somewhat mooted by real-world listening and playback conditions. for example: the approx. 30-40dB noise floor present in many residential rooms. that environmental noise floor is going to mask a lot of vinyl's flaws, rendering them somewhat irrelevant in the real world.
  • Applejinx 5y ago
    Vinyl's noise floor is heavily rumble-centric. We can't hear that as easily and when we do we can hear through it very easily. Also, our hearing's evolved to hear past intrusive transients like crackle or leaf rustling, so in every sense the noise floor of vinyl is incredibly deceptive.
    • JohnBooty 5y ago
      Vinyl's noise floor is heavily rumble-centric. Yup. Additionally, this roughly correlates with the noise floor in a "typical" room. The walls themselves do a great job of attenuating high-frequency noise from outside the room. The outside noise that does penetrate into a closed room will be in the lower frequencies. Also, our hearing's evolved to hear past intrusive transients like crackle or leaf rustling, so in every sense the noise floor of vinyl is incredibly deceptive. Very well put.
  • bittercynic 5y ago
    I'd never considered this angle, but in a way a higher noise floor could be an advantage. If the noise on the recording medium drowns out traffic noise, the fridge, the heater, etc. it could make for a more immersive listening experience.
    • JohnBooty 5y ago
      Hahaha. I don't think it quite works that way. Although, maybe it's because I bought an $25,000 audiophile dishwasher.