Vinyl enthusiasm seems to go on unabated, and I certainly could never have predicted when we threw out our last record player that anyone but a few hardcore adherents would ever care about these PVC discs again. Yet here we are.
We’ve covered some of the core myths behind vinyl before, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Just like the mythical supposed sound quality of vinyl audio, you’ll never hear the end of stuff people make up about this medium.
Myth: Colored vinyl sounds worse than black vinyl
Color me unsurprised
Why is vinyl black? All vinyl records today are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which is transparent. To make the record black, you need to add black carbon. The idea is that carbon improved the durability of the vinyl, and it’s what people think of as the standard for vinyl.
In the 1970s and 1980s, we saw the introduction of colored vinyl, which had a reputation for sounding bad, and the lack of carbon and the addition of colored dyes were blamed. The thing is, these were novelty records back then, and so there were other factors that affected the quality of these novelty records. The mastering, recording, and pressing of the records wasn’t the best, but people just focused on the color.
Today, according to Victrola, there’s no reason to expect a colored record to sound any worse than a black one. There are some exceptions, but pressing, mastering, and recording quality all matter far more. Record manufacturers have simply improved their methods enough to make colored records sound just as good as anything. Particularly, in the case of expensive collectors’ editions, the colored records have been carefully made to the highest standards.
Myth: Heavier (180g) vinyl sounds better
“Heavy metal” is just a metaphorical name
Credit: Justin Duino / How-To Geek
We tend to think of heavier objects as being higher quality, and so there’s this idea that a 180g record will sound better than a 120g record. These records are marketed as “audiophile” quality, but a heavier record sounds no better than thinner, lighter ones.
The audio information is in the grooves, and the grooves are the same. Thick, heavy records resist warping better than standard records. That’s all.
Myth: Expensive turntables automatically sound better
Mo money mo problems
The Audio-Technica AT-VM95CCredit: Derek Malcolm/How-To Geek
Years ago, I spent quite a lot of time ghostwriting for a website (no longer online) that sold record players. This was before the current mainstream vinyl revival, so it really was for the vinyl weirdos who held on over the years. You know, the true believers.
As such, I wrote up blurbs about some truly expensive record players. We’re talking thousands of dollars to buy a record player with a plinth hewn of solid marble and gold-plated bits for no apparent reason. Listening to your record on one of these should result in the best-case scenario for vinyl audio, but the truth is that if you pop one of these expensive turntables into a bad audio chain, they’ll sound terrible, whereas a mid-range turntable that’s been carefully and correctly setup can sound amazing.
There’s a point of diminishing returns as well, where you need those fabled audiophile “golden ears” to tell the difference between a $1,000 turntable and a $4,000 model.
Myth: A record clamp or weight always improves sound
More weight!
Credit: Derek Malcolm/How-To Geek
First we had heavier records. Now we have a heavy weight you put on top of your records. The idea is that these heavy clamp weights can reduce vibration and keep a slightly warped vinyl more flat so it will play properly.
If your records are flat and your setup is solid, a clamp might not change anything at all.
Myth: Records sound the same all the way through
They have their ups and downs
Something people rarely bring up when it comes to the quality of vinyl audio is that it’s not consistent from start to finish. If you think about it, how could it be? The outer grooves of a record move faster under the stylus than the inner grooves, which allows for better detail and less distortion.
As the tonearm moves inward, the available space shrinks and distortion increases. This is known as inner groove distortion, and it’s an inherent limitation of the format.
This can even affect where record producers decide to put tracks, with more dynamic tracks that need more detail placed at the edges where fidelity is better. So, if your vinyl sounds less crisp at the end compared to the start, it’s not just your imagination!
Just enjoy your music
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the myths and stories of vinyl records. They’ve been around for over three quarters of a century, after all. But at the end of the day, vinyl is a delivery vehicle for music (and visual art, and maybe liner notes, I suppose). Enjoy the music, but don’t overthink the format.
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