Hi all,
I have imported a couple of Vinyl transfers into my collection and noticed that the waveform for these is a lot more subdued comparing to the digital download version of the same song.
Digital Download
Vinyl Transfer
For this song the waveform from the Vinyl transfer looks a lot less dynamic than the digital download even though the Dynamic range supposedly is greater.
Is this expected behavior based on the file info or what is going on here?
Thanks for clarifying this 
It looks as if they are different tracks (although they are not). The vinyl transfer version completely lacks the silence periods that are in the digital download at 1/2 and 3/4 of the track.
Different masters for different mediums, you’re not going to get them the same as you have too many variables, different mastering for vinyl, the quail it’s your cartridge, the quality of your phono stage, the quality of your ADC. All are factors and will add additional noise and different levels that don’t touch any digital master.
Which sounds better?
I’d imagine the vinyl rip as albums with a gain value of -17 rarely sound good to me.
.sjb
In my experience, this is expected. In terms of peak levels, analog transfers are conservative, while digital downloads are almost always over the top. The true peak level of the download is 0.3dBTP, which is positive and thus already clipping in theory. The true peak level of the transfer is -2.6dBTP, which may be a bit low, but will have no issues with clipping during playback. (Ideally, it should be around -1dBTP, so it can still be safely scaled up a bit.) The download’s peak is about 40% higher than the transfer’s, which is definitely visible in the waveform.
Also, peak levels and dynamic range are not directly related, so you can have a wider dynamic range and lower peaks. The download is most probably dynamically compressed to sound louder. This is why the track gain (i.e. the amount of gain you would need to bring the track to a reference loudness level) is way lower for the download (-15.4dB) than for the transfer (-3.1dB). This suggests that the download is about 12.3dB louder.
What did you use for the transfer?
Thanks everyone for their answers so far.
The vinyl transfer sounds better. There is some noticeable clipping in the digital download which is not present in the transferred version.
Thanks for your very detailed answer. I expected something like that but was quite surprised how stark the difference in the waveform is. Audible both tracks have good dynamics with lots of peaks and valleys. The vinyl transfer waveform just does not represent it that obvious.
I used a Pro-Ject table, Ortofon 2M Blue through a Pro-Ject amp and Apogee converter.
You can record at a higher level that more closes matches the digital versions but you run the risk of clipping. When I was doing this I tried to keep my rips as close to 0db as possible without triggering the clip warning. A few peaks over were not a big deal, but if you record too high… well there’s not much point to it after all.
That’s too close for comfort. Even Spotify recommends a true headroom of at least -1dB:
- Positive gain is applied to softer masters so the loudness level is -14 dB LUFS. We consider the headroom of the track, and leave 1 dB headroom for lossy encodings to preserve audio quality.
Example: If a track loudness level is -20 dB LUFS, and its True Peak maximum is -5 dB FS, we only lift the track up to -16 dB LUFS.
You’re probably right. I ripped about a dozen albums before I realized it was way too much work 
. The only way I’d even consider it now is if the album were not available in digital format. And I’d really have to want the album.
