DouglasSelf diyAudio Member



Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: London

Hypothesis as to why some prefer vinyl: Douglas Self An intriguing theory has been put forward in the Letter section of Hifi News (December 2015, p123) as to why people assert they prefer vinyl to digital, despite the undeniable problems with noise, distortion, clicks, etc etc. Mr Patrick Wallace points out that vinyl signals always come with a background of low-frequency noise due to pressing limitations & so on, and that some of this is vertical with respect to the stylus, and therefore appears out of phase and cannot be localised by the ears. He says it therefore is interpreted as 'surround sound' ambience on the recording.



This is the first hypothesis I have come across that gives a plausible reason why vinyl, with its inescapable limitations, might be preferred to digital, and I would be glad to see some discussion of this on DIYaudio.



I'm sure you are all wondering if there would be a market for a vinylising box that would add suitable out-of-phase low-frequency noise to clean signals. __________________

Douglas Self