Does Black Vinyl Sound Better

Coloured vinyl can sound as good as regular black in my opinion there are exceptions to this rule though.

Does black vinyl sound better. That s why snare drums cymbal splashes and other loud instruments have so much more punch in vinyl recordings. Vinyl can still push music to the limits of its dynamic range 55 70db but it often shies away from doing so in order to maintain sound quality. Whereas with black vinyl you can run that on any press on any day and while every record runs a little differently you know the vinyl itself is going to be pretty consistent. In a not very distant past most produced vinyl records were quite good.

But enjoyment of music and sound is essentially subjective. And not all black vinyl sound good either. But it will sound more vinyl y if that s your preference. Vinyl s capable of a lot.

Glow in the dark vinyl for example is usually noisy. For me this is the biggest overriding factor in why black is said to sound better in any manufacturing process of course there are always exceptions. Do we have proof that coloured vinyl is worse than black for sound. The comments concerning number of pressings and wear of the die is valid but that is independent of the vinyl color.

It s just a shame it seems so many engineers didn t seem to do very well with it and most of the mainstream 80s dmm cuts i ve heard just sound brittle and harsh. It is the quality of the vinyl plastic compound itself that can be questionable. Yes it s a gimmick. Yes black is generally better for seeing the groove but depends on the colour lighting.

There s very little compression so the loudest parts of those sounds often. Technically there should be no difference affecting the sound from the slight difference in the vinyl s composition.