Spectrum News 1 viewer Joe Silvia asked, “Dear Virtually Rick: Why is the audio quality better on vinyl disc than electronic format? Have a good day!”

Have a good day? After asking the toughest question of all time? Oh well!

Here are five things to know:

  1. Prepare for a massive oversimplification! Vinyl, or polyvinyl chloride records made from the same stuff as PVC plastic pipes have been around since the 1930s. A record player needle sits in the groove or tracks and vibrates picking up the pre-recorded sounds embedded on the left and right channels, sending those vibrations out of your speakers.
  2. Digital file sound cuts out the need for a record player or even a record and goes straight from your phone or computer to your amplifier and speakers. The quality depends upon how the digital file is created. So you can get both pretty awful and amazing quality audio. It’s like the difference between VHS video tape and 4K video.
  3. Studies have shown we can only hear so much and that it’s hard for us to tell the difference qualitatively. But some of those more organic sounds of vinyl give it away, giving it a sound or even a feel of its own that’s warmer and different from the colder, more clinical digital files, which can sound “flatter” due to the way they are compressed.
  4. Digital files also depend on the quality of the equipment you use to play them back. The bigger and higher the quality file — not an MP3 but a FLAC file which is a huge size — means it’s less compressed. So it will sound better. But play it on a cheap stereo system and even that can sound bad.
  5. Vinyl is on the rise because the listening experience is more intimate and meaningful and human. You can hold the album cover in your hands, spend time examining the notes whilst the record plays and make an emotional connection with the artist without the distraction of commercials or skipping through hundreds of other digital tracks.

In 2020, 27.5 million vinyl albums were sold in the United States. That's up 46% from the previous year. People are always voting with their ears, but it’ll remain to be seen if the vinyl resurgence is here to stay or just a passing fad.