In case you hadn’t realised, vinyl is making a bit of a comeback. Who would have guessed that a plastic disc which first arrived on the scene in 1931 would still be bringing so much joy 95 years later?
Although a lot has changed in the world over that time, the format itself and the techniques used to create it haven’t evolved massively. So, is vinyl currently as good as it gets, or could it be improved upon?
We reached out to some of the best turntable engineers in the business to see what they think about the state of the format in 2026.
There are several things you could change, and some have already happened. Faster speed, with 45rpm 12-inch discs, half-speed mastering and of course direct cutting.
Further speed increases mean challenges in production and playback. Changes to established standards such as the RIAA curve could mean a significant shift.
Of course, an addition like the IEC curve has already happened to improve the cost-effective performance of hardware. Having the option to select either is welcome.
Heavier vinyl, along with the surface ‘character’ and shape, is a good option. Moving to a different material than carbon/oil is a worthwhile consideration. The security of acetate production is also another factor to be safeguarded.
I think consumers would welcome a clear indication of the origin of the source material. We had it with CD when first launched, why not records?
If I had to choose one change, it would be a higher standard playback speed, something like making 45rpm the default for albums.
Higher speed improves high-frequency performance, reduces distortion (particularly towards the inner grooves), and makes tracking easier for the stylus. You’re effectively giving the system more physical space to carry the musical information.
Another interesting area is groove geometry. A slightly wider groove would be easier to clean, less sensitive to debris, and potentially reduce wear by spreading the tracking force over a larger area. It could also make tracking more stable on demanding passages.
The trade-off, of course, is playing time. Wider grooves mean fewer grooves per side, which is exactly why the microgroove LP became the standard in the first place. Like most things in vinyl, it’s a balance between performance and practicality.
The way vinyl playback creates a new electrical signal by scraping a rock along a wall of plastic is pure magic, and I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. There’s a great essay in Revolution by Gideon Schwartz on many of the innovations and experiments that led to the current model.
I’d hate to mess too much with the format itself. If I could make one change, it would be to the vinyl production industry. There are a lot of poor-quality records out there, and while vinyl is booming, we’re a long way from the number of quality cutting rooms that we had in the 20th century.
If vinyl is going to continue to demand the price it does, some sort of regulation that ensures vinyl mastering meets a quality standard threshold would save a lot of disappointment for end users.
Pro-Ject has previously been a big supporter of the innovative ‘HD Vinyl’ format being developed by Guenter Loibl at Rebeat. The possibilities with this technology are enormous, but unfortunately, in a fast-paced world, it seems not to be a priority, and the opportunity may well be missed.
But actually, I believe the biggest thing that could improve the record format in our current market is for there to be more business leaders who genuinely care about the category. Vinyl is in fashion, and that means there are many opportunists across all aspects of the vinyl/analogue industry who are here to take advantage.
We see brands simply finding a vendor somewhere in the world, buying a product that allows them to sell it for a low price with no attention to detail in good mechanical design, and therefore flooding the market with bad turntable choices for customers.
Similarly, we see more vinyl records produced today with poor quality control, either in production or in the mastering process. This all creates an environment where customers do not get true, quality, value for money; and that brings a risk to the ongoing popularity of our category.
Turntables must be accessible – that we believe – but as business owners we must also care for the future of our customers and of the whole category. I have made turntables since the early 90s, and that’s because I always believed I could give a customer a good experience that can last for years.
I know there are others who share this belief. But we need more people like this – not people who make turntables now because they are ‘cool’, but will abandon the category after flooding it with poor-quality products once the fashion changes.
Never before in our industry has a format come back from the dead quite like vinyl. We need to protect that and always show people why the format is so special, in order to keep it.
Records are inherently flawed, but I think that’s why we love them. One thing which does bother me is the environmental impact of producing and disposing of PVC discs. The recent rise of new vinyl record sales is a great thing because it shows that people really care about music.
But I think that we should investigate the circularity of the format, and how to ensure that these records are kept for a long time and ultimately end up in used record shops rather than landfill. We should perhaps be encouraging the use of non fossil fuel-based bioplastics as well.
I would make the diameter of the vinyl record a little larger, so you could have around 30 minutes of playback per side. This would naturally lead to further improvements elsewhere – longer tonearms, higher platter mass, and so on.
The current 33⅓rpm vinyl LP format appears to be an ideal compromise. Most technical changes have been tried with marketing kudos but no real sound-quality advantage. Many of the best recordings have been made direct to tape and without the use of a commercial mixing disc.
So, for Rega, the biggest quality change would be to eliminate or dramatically improve mixing in both the analogue and digital domains.
However, the most important change would be to reduce the expected selling price of an LP. Rega can record and sell LPs with a fair profit margin for manufacture, distribution and retail, for around £20.00.
We have carried out many tests and verifications of record-player playback using different vinyl compounds against acetates and master source with very interesting results.
In fact, over the past few years, the two most important improvements have been the results of upgrades and modifications to the cutting lathe, no less, and secondly, improved vinyl compound.
As an example, during blind ‘listening’ tests with one of the best mastering and cutting engineers and one of the most experienced music company executives, it was night and day experience between an acetate and a test pressing.
An acetate is the closest to the master, almost identical to the lacquer that is cut to produce the record – no steps in between. However, in this instance, the test pressing – four steps away from the lacquer – was clearly far superior! How?
The acetate was cut on the original – perfectly working – lathe and the test pressing produced from the lacquer that was subsequently cut on the heavily modified and upgraded lathe – same lathe/model same master, same settings. Clear indication of where the weakest link was – the cutting lathe!
There is nothing really wrong with the record format or the RIAA, and in fact any changes to these aspects would result in playback equipment redundancy and wouldn’t really serve any purpose.
We have already demonstrated conclusively that our reference record playing system can get so close to the master – at this point we should look at ways of making records better – improved cutting lathes, pressing equipment and vinyl compounds.
Not to forget that this also doesn’t really increase costs – production or playback – as opposed to format changes and the like that most certainly would.
Record technology is a compromise from the beginning. But over the century it is an extremely good compromise. No wish from my side to change this.
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