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Why can vinyl playback add sounds that are absent from a digital recording of the same master?

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Answer: Contact between the stylus and groove can introduce noise and distortion

Vinyl's age creates extra musical detail that was absent from the master — Aging does not create additional recorded musical detail. Wear or scratches can add noise and distort what was already in the groove. A different sound is not necessarily more information from the original performance.

Contact between the stylus and groove can introduce noise and distortion ✓ — Vinyl playback uses a stylus in a physical groove, so dust, surface defects and imperfect tracking can introduce noise or distortion. A digital copy of the same master does not need that groove-reading step. Different mastering can also change two releases, but this comparison holds the master constant.

Digital playback cannot turn stored samples into a continuous sound wave — Digital playback can reconstruct a continuous electrical waveform from samples, which speakers turn into sound. It does not have to sound like disconnected steps. Vinyl's additional surface noise comes from its physical playback process, not from digital sound being unable to form a continuous wave.

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