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Answerman - Why Aren't Master Tape Formats Used Everywhere?

Records, what people now call vinyl, required a whole ritual of cleaning, de-static treatment, high end electronics and finger tip handling. That is if you wanted to maintain the sound. The hiss, pop and click sounds people refer to are usually evidence of improper treatment or poor equipment. They could produce superb sound. But that required expert recording, immaculate pressing and very high end playback equipment. Unfortunately that sound degraded somewhat with every replay. CDs got rid of all that in a year or two after introduction. Especially for popular music which is where all the business was anyway.

Does analog sound better than digital? I don't know, I never did hear any difference. I suppose if you have the "golden ears" people talk about or if you are good at kidding yourself there may be something there. For most of us, no, not at all.

All those years springing for high end, high fidelity equipment and now there is a whole generation of people who listen to all their music on $2 ear buds attached to some sort of MP 3 player. Not unlike some guy buying a 65 inch 4K TV with seven channel surround sound to get one up on his neighbor who only had a miserable 55 incher.