What are the different formats?
MP3, a format that reduces the depth of sound
All specialists will tell you: of these three media, MP3 is the one that offers the lowest audio quality. To reduce the weight of the songs, and to fit on digital music players, the MP3 format compresses the audio data, which is then decompressed during listening. This results in losses, and degraded sound if you listen carefully (provided you have high-fidelity speakers). If the sound can be represented as a sinusoidal curve, the MP3 erases the peaks to be able to take up less space. It also depends on the compression rates: above 256 Kb per second, the breakage is limited. But all the same: MP3s are somewhat the equivalent of modern audio cassettes: practical but not very suitable for faithfully reproducing sound. Among the digital formats,we can prefer the WAV or the AIFF which offer a better audio quality.
Vinyl, the ultimate, plus vintage sound
If it sold over a million in England in 2014, it is not only for the charm of the sizzle on the LP.
This format, which is showing increasing sales, is the best of the three mediums because it is not sampled: the music is stored there spatially, not digitally, which gives vinyl a subtlety than CD. and the MP3 do not have.
Thanks to the precision of the LPs, the sound wave is reproduced faithfully, sometimes to the point of reproducing the acoustics of the recording location (if the sound engineer is good).
With the exception of a certain sizzle and a relative tendency to degrade over the long term, it offers the best listening quality available today.
The CD, the best of digital media
The CD offers a quality halfway between MP3 and vinyl record.
It allows you to transcribe the music at a sampling of 44.1KHz, which means that the sound is picked up 44,100 times per second.
This rate gives it a precision close to that of vinyl.
The dynamic range of CD is even greater than that of vinyl, with a value of 100 decibels (compared to 60 for the LP record).
This means that the CD can transcribe sounds of a greater amplitude, but in reality, this value is little exploited because rare are the sound systems which make it possible to take advantage of such variety.
Although of excellent quality, the CD is doomed to be only an interpretation of the analog sound in a digital version, necessarily worse than the original.
Music streaming, a modern and attractive solution
You can perfectly be a purist of the analog sound of vinyls, or be a die-hard CD fan, and complete your collection with dematerialized tracks, available on music streaming services. Deezer, Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited ... there are many platforms that allow you to enjoy tens of millions of musical titles, for the price of a subscription that rarely exceeds ten euros per month. From a computer or a smartphone, with headphones on the ears or with a Bluetooth or connected speaker, there is no shortage of choice to enjoy your favorite music streaming. And today, it is not uncommon for the most reputable platforms on the market to offer high definition sound for a large number of albums.Don't hesitate to take a look at our selection of streaming music subscriptions now to make your choice!
