Opinion: Digital vs. analog: Vinyl is making a comeback, but is it actually better?

Sometimes, you don’t know there’s wide disagreement or a debate over something until, suddenly, there is. Such is the case with reader opinions on music encoded digitally or on vinyl.

On Tuesday, The Times published an op-ed article exploring millennials’ embrace of the heretofore obsolete vinyl record; one letter writer responded by asserting that professionals prefer analog formats like vinyl, a statement that touched off further discussion. Several readers weighed in by declaring on which side of the digital-analog divide they stood; a handful of others related their own experiences spinning vinyl.

Here are some of their letters.

Peter Gaulke of Los Angeles credits a vinyl record for a seminal moment of father-son bonding:

I am the single dad of a special-needs 10-year-old. A year ago we had to move into a small one-bedroom apartment, and initially my son was having trouble with the adjustment.

One night I put an old Buffalo Springfield record on my turntable, turned off the lights, opened the blinds and let the moonlight in. The two of us lay down on the floor next to one another and listened to the music. He was instantly mesmerized. In the dark, we listened to the pop and crackle of the old record without moving, without talking. It was a transcendent moment for both of us.

Now, when I pick up my son from school, he’ll ask me sometimes if we can listen to music in the dark. This bonding, soulful experience would never have happened with a digital delivery system. There’s something about a record that affects him in a way that nothing ever has. God bless the vinyl record.

Los Angeles resident Gary Davis questions if professionals truly prefer analog:

The claim by a reader that “most sound engineers prefer analog over digital” is absurd. Sound engineers will occasionally use analog recorders because they like specific flaws in analog recording, such as tape saturation. But I don’t think you’ll find many engineers who would prefer listening to a scratchy LP over a pristine CD.

It is true that professional analog equipment sounds very good, but the consumer will never have access to master tapes to play on that equipment. Virtually the same quality is captured, and played back, on an inexpensive CD. On the other hand, the compressed digital music formats that you find on iTunes and streaming services compromise the digital quality.

But even these inferior digital formats have no ticks and pops, virtually no hiss and essentially perfect frequency response.

Thomas Pawlak of Palos Verdes Estates votes for vinyl:

Vinyl records simply sound better. I have songs in both digital (CD) and analog (vinyl). If I play the same song in one format, and then play the song in the other format, the vinyl format produces a bigger sound stage with more depth.

Digital is more convenient, but if I really want to “hear” the music, I will play a record every time.

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