I see a lot of records get released both on styrene and vinyl. Besides the styrene being more brittle (prone to crack), is there a noticeable sound quality difference between the two? Styrene more noisy w less frequency range?

I see a lot of records get released both on styrene and vinyl. Besides the styrene being more brittle (prone to crack), is there a noticeable sound quality difference between the two? Styrene more noisy w less frequency range?

General opinion is that Vinyl is the better of the 2 less prone to cracking and does not deteriorate like styrene!! as styrene loses fidelity/quality whilst just sat in storage due to it's chemical make up!! Atb John.

In my experience when styrene 45s are mint/brand new they sound louder/better with less background noise than the vinyl eqivalent, alas this doesn't last & they are a real minefield to buy used because of cueburn/greying/distortion.

If someone offerend me a record and I could pick either Styrene copy of Vinyl copy

I would always go for the Vinyl copy for longevity purposes

On the other hand, styrene is much more beautiful. In my weird opinion, anyway.

Mint styrene every time for me. Longevity isn't a problem unless it's been battered by some Northern Soul "DJ" every weekend for 40 years!

I've owned Mint styrene records for over 30 years and they're still Mint. In fact I much prefer, and collect, the Motown styrene Map design demo presses over the boring vinyl ones.

Regards,

Dave

Good Post. I usually go for vinyl copies if possible because they are more robust. I've got quite a few styrene records with cracks/tape on one side. As regards which sounds better? I was comparing my vinyl and styrene copies of Baby Washington's "your Fool" on US SUE the other day. Both are mint but the styrene copy sounds a lot clearer and 'sharper' to my ears than the vinyl one. Hope this helps, Dave

Did read sometime back that boffins had proved that due to carbon used to turn vinyl black records records were biodegrading over time .Hence their new gizzmo costing 100s of pounds to de-ionize vinyl.But this link tells all about record history,manufacture,materials,it leaves nothing out .Spent a week reading it (i did say nothing left out) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record

a lot of vinyl was often recycled hence the sometimes poor quality recordings and the vinyl stampers deteriorate more quickly. Mint (or near as) styrene is always a better quality sound.

In my experience when styrene 45s are mint/brand new they sound louder/better with less background noise than the vinyl eqivalent, alas this doesn't last & they are a real minefield to buy used because of cueburn/greying/distortion.

I would agree , it only takes one over weighted DJ stylus to damage the surface for ever , but vinyl seems to have a longer life even if canned with pennys stuck on the stylus

a lot of vinyl was often recycled hence the sometimes poor quality recordings and the vinyl stampers deteriorate more quickly. Mint (or near as) styrene is always a better quality sound.

I agree. Mint styrene has far less surface noise, higher consistency, better bass response and high-end frequencies.

But it's brittle and can easily wear.

Having said that, vinyl is very good at most plants today, especially in Europe.

A particularly bad period for vinyl in the US was the mid 1970s when many plants used regrade materials because of increased vinyl costs following the oil embargo. It was made even worse when some plants ran stampers until they were worn, rather than replace them every 1000 pressings.

I suppose they thought of records as disposable products to be replaced when worn out.