Interested in Improving the Sound of Your Stereo? Consider Records
Introduced in 1982, the compact disc was intended to provide
better sound than the 40-year-old long-play record album,
popularly known as the LP. Using a laser rather than a diamond
needle for playback the compact disc was smaller, more
convenient to use, and less susceptible to damage than the LP. A
bonus was that the format was said to offer “perfect sound
forever.” “Forever” isn’t that long these days; improvements in
digital sound have come along in the last twenty years and the
music industry introduced two new formats this decade that are
designed to improve upon the “perfect” sound of the compact
disc. Those formats are the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) and
DVD Audio (DVD-A.) Over the years, various audio publications
have criticized the sound of compact discs, describing the sound
as “harsh”, “brittle” or “sterile” compared to the sound of the
LP. After years of research, SACD and DVD-A were introduced
several years ago and introduced sound that was said to be
cleaner and more natural than that of the compact disc. In
addition, these formats offered multi-channel sound, and artists
such as Pink Floyd
offered special multi-channel versions of their albums to entice
sales. It hasn’t worked, and sales of both formats peaked in
2003. What is interesting, however, is that both formats still
trail the LP in sales!
According to the Recording
Industry Association of America, the combined sales of
SACD and DVD-A were less than those of the LP in 2004. The music
industry is in a slump at the moment, and sales of all formats
were down last year. But sales of LPs were down 13% from 2003,
while combined SACD and DVD-A sales were down 33%. It would
appear that the new formats are failing, even though they are
said to be superior to the compact disc. The LP, on the other
hand, continues to have steady sales. While the major labels are
still somewhat hesitant to release new product in LP form,
labels that specialize in reissuing older material, such as
Classic Records, are releasing as much product as their
manufacturing capacity will permit. It is worth noting that much
of this reissued product comes in the form of high-quality,
limited edition LP pressings that often carry premium prices of
up to $50 per title. Why are records continuing to sell while
the new formats fail?
There are several reasons why
records are outselling the new, “superior” digital disc formats:
SACD and DVD-A formats are largely incompatible. While players
have been introduced that will play either one, most players
play either one format or the other. Worse, neither one will
play on a traditional CD player. You must replace your player to
play either one.
to use and requires purchasing new amplification equipment. SACD
and DVD-A both have multichannel capabilities, but neither
format’s players have digital outputs. Both must be connected to
amplifiers or receivers with special SACD or DVD-A analog
inputs.
the sound of records to compact discs still prefer the sound of
records to either SACD or DVD-A. Most will agree that while the
new formats sound better than compact discs, the unique
“digital” sound of compact discs is still there.
quality. Arguments can always be made about the sound of compact
disc vs records vs SACD vs DVD-A, but millions of consumers are
content to listen to music in MP3 format on portable players.
MP3 format is inherently inferior in sound quality to all of the
other formats, but MP3 players are selling as fast as companies
can make them.
The day will never come when records
again become the dominant music format. The convenience of
portable players for CD, SACD, and DVD-A discs and MP3 files
outweighs the advantages in sound quality that records offer
over those formats. Nevertheless, it appears that a small but
steady market for records remains very real, and that that
market exceeds that of the new “improved” SACD and DVD-A
formats, which will probably soon go the way of the forgotten
Elcassette, Minidisc, and 4 track tape formats of the past.
