I think there's fundamental difference when comparing digital audio to movie frames or "snapshots". With discrete images brain creates illusion of motion. With audio hardware (dac) reconstructs the waveform and our ears receives this continuous waveform. Our brain doesn't interpolate the audio (like let's say with moving images), it happens in DAC, its already continuous before its reaches our ears.

 

it's a data to audio stream. the dac reconstructs the waveform from discrete samples at the rate of 44,000 per second, or 48,000 etc.
Each individual sample isn't the waveform. It is what is needed for accurate reconstruction. ala Nyquist.

 

The problem with the movie analogy is that people assume discreteness means missing information. In film, anything can happen between frames, in digital audio, the signal is band-limited before sampling. Given that constraint and a sampling rate above Nyquist, there is only one possible band-limited waveform that fits the samples

 

More than Monty Python here we need Monty Montgomery, see clip belo.

Right. see clip below.

No, it seems not.
I thought the same when I studied digital conversion, imagining squared steps for waveforms as all school textbooks print, but as you can see here (3:37), it's not (but see the entire clip).
I don't know how many times this clip was posted... Maybe it's the best tech video about A/D-D/A conversion.

 

Last edited: Feb 13, 2026

A firsthand account from the 1990s, before the invention of the internet:

Endless technical discussions... Back then, after getting my paycheck, I'd simply go to a record store and treat myself to some records. Once home, I'd brew a pot of tea, settle into my favorite armchair, turn on the stereo, put on a record, adjust the volume, and then sit there with the LP cover in my hands, listening attentively and enjoying the new music while gazing out the window into the distance.

It's remarkable what people make of such a simple act today. Back then, nothing like that existed. You listened to the music and talked to your friends and acquaintances about the band's music and even swapped tapes, but these technical discussions simply didn't happen.

 

Last edited: Feb 13, 2026

Many vinyl pressing plants actually have you send your mix to specific mastering too, giving you a different LUFS mix, different master, then different playback format. Let's not forget every single pressing plant will actually lathe cut the vinyl different too. There are several stages where the vinyl mix differentiates from the digital mix just because the actual vinyl creation process.

 

Vinyl is not making a comeback. Digital is the superior storage medium. Period.

 

Vinyl has always been around and always available, but sales figures and pressings naturally fluctuate.

The comeback is certainly fabricated, probably by the record industry or its playback devices. They place a few ads—that is, they pay money—in the well-known hi-fi magazines and online, and then the editor writes about a comeback.

Revival or never really gone?

The vinyl record, or record, has experienced an economic boom over the last two decades: In 2024, vinyl sales in Germany totaled 4.9 million units. This represents an increase of more than sevenfold compared to the early 2000s, when only around 500,000 records were sold in Germany. A vinyl record is a plastic disc where both sides function as analog sound carriers.

Records are often referred to as vinyl because of their manufacturing material, polyvinyl chloride. After the advent of the CD in the early 1980s, vinyl sales initially declined significantly, and vinyl was considered a dying medium.

 

We'll see... ;-)

Of course, digital will always be cheaper than analog—and available everywhere and all the time.

But: My records sound—to my musician's ears—better than digital media from the same analog source. I already mentioned that earlier in the thread.

My newly acquired 1/2" 30ips master tape machine will arrive at the end of the week.
I'll calibrate it and add Dolby SR/A modules, and then make parallel recordings (DSD256, Merging, Fearn, Brauner) of voice and piano for direct comparison.

I'm very curious to see if there will be any audible differences—and which version, analog or digital, will ultimately sound better.

I'll let you know...

By the way: I gave my 22-year-old daughter a record player for Christmas. She's now listening to records more often—in addition to streaming.

 

I'm curious to see the results! I think it's wonderful that you're giving your daughter something meaningful that retrains and engages her senses of touch and sight.

The great thing about books is that they have a smell, you can hold them and turn the pages, and they're also a beautiful piece of furniture. A bookshelf also dampens high frequencies in the room. When you have visitors, they can browse through the books. More analog and less digital is better for us humans. Books are also a great gift because reading keeps the language more alive and also trains the brain.

 

Yes, of course, you're right.

When my two daughters were younger, we always had "Analog Mondays." I'd get out my great-uncle's old mechanical typewriter, my great-grandfather's gramophone, and other analog devices, and we'd have a lot of fun with them. This way, they both realized that there are always analog solutions for every problem. Not always as convenient as digital ones—but sometimes surprisingly different.
They loved it...

 

There's a ready-made screen on the internet that already has everything you need.

A different and more meaningful activity for children is to build their own power
supply using solar panels and a radio, and then listen to a radio program.

This way, they can be creative, solve a problem, and be rewarded with a radio show. This empowers children, and later, as adults, they'll find it easier to solve problems and won't give up at the first sign of trouble. In this pre-packaged world without problems, where parents do everything for their children, we'll end up with young people who snap because they haven't learned how to solve problems.

 

Yesss.

I find it especially important to give children "analog" experiences so they can see how DIFFERENT a live concert, theater, or opera performance can be compared to a media experience.
The live experience will outlive all AI-generated substitutes...because it's where people connect with each other and exchange emotions.

That's art—touching and moving people.

That's what lasts.

My girls have experienced all the great stages and concert halls, orchestras, and ensembles of the world. That has shaped them—even though they haven't necessarily developed the same taste in music as me. ;)

 

the original post by pulse wave was weird enough, as he is obviously the last person on this planet who leanred about vinly coming back and thinks he need to inform us about it.

you now try to surpass this by ignoring reality completely?

here in europe, vinyl will overhaul CD sales in 2026. CD is dead!

 

I'm amazed at how you handle all of this!

I asked my dentist if her children had also become dentists. She replied no, one of them is studying art.
I then said that her talents are also in the child; they just express themselves differently.

In my opinion, children usually do something different than their parents, thus broadening the sphere of influence—the individual's impact on society—with their learned and inherited skills. Isn't that evolution? More diversity, just like in nature!

I like giving children tools so they can repair things or do crafts themselves. We also built a birdhouse together; the little one was so active and very proud in the end. He loves squirrels and birds, just like I do. When I ask him what he enjoys doing at school, not much, really, but they did build a raft together and sailed it on a lake. People enjoy doing things like that because they have a purpose, but these skills need to be taught to young people.

 

Without my post, you wouldn't be commenting now. Yes, it's not always easy to please everyone.
At least we're now discussing the pros and cons, and everyone can have their say.

 

I like the idea of any token object that recording artists can sell to increase their income, but it seems counterproductive to choose something with such limited utility and costly manufacturing requirements. I would be really interested to hear from independent artists who have chosen to press vinyl and how that worked out for them financially.
I grew up listening to my mom's vinyl collection. The first time I heard CD playback of material I was very familiar with (Tull's Thick as a Brick) I was absolutely blown away by what I had been missing. The recording came alive in a way I had never experienced. I felt like I was in the room with the band. It was one of those reinforcing moments which led to me becoming a full time audio engineer.

 

I think so too...
Last year I've spent about €600 on vinyl records, €300 on digital/streaming (Qobuz/Spotify), and €0 on CDs.

 

There's a band in my circle of friends who all have day jobs, so they don't live off their music, but they recorded a punk album in a studio and released it on Klartext Records. They designed the booklet and insert themselves, and also included a patch and a button with the band name and logo. www.britscheplatten.de/Klartext-Records:.:133.html

 

In the analog realm, sound quality depends much more on the quality of the equipment than in the digital realm.

The "normal" turntable of the 80s was not on par with the "normal" CD player in terms of sound quality. I experienced this myself when I was finally able to buy my first CD player (a Sony) in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

These days, things are different – my current Rega P10 sounds several classes better than my old Denon DP-47F from the 1990s – both high-end then and now. With the right setup, analog/vinyl can even sound better than my two current CD players (Cambridge Audio Azur 851c/Exposure XM CD).
The difference between CD players then and now isn't nearly as significant.
16-bit/44.1kHz is simply 16-bit/44.1kHz. ;)

What's your take on this from today's perspective, as a sound engineer?