Shadowing Practice: Vinyl vs CD vs Spotify - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
There is a change in the air.
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People are sick of renting their music.
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Streamers don't pay artists properly and pay to play has us listening to the same eight songs.
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So physical media is making a comeback in a big way.
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Stop renting your music and start owning it instead.
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Five years ago, it seemed like the only way to be a real audio file to get a truly pure musical experience in your living room.
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There was pretty much only one route, vinyl. Final.
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But some cool kids on the internet who call me UNC claim that compact discs are a cheaper alternative to vinyl and are just as good if not better.
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Like I don't know about CDs guys.
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But in the last couple of years, streaming audio quality has also gotten really, really good.
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Spotify, Title, Apple Music, they've all responded with lossless audio options - Yeah.
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And direct cloud streaming protocols that technically outperform CD quality.
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But which type of setup is the best?
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And which one is right for us? To Find out we got them all.
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We are going to set up a fully analog vinyl system.
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Compare that against a serious modern compact disc setup while also giving the highly convenient, lossless streaming option a fair shot.
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I mean, that's not that bad. That Sounds pretty good.
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Oh, already. A way bigger sound.
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That took me by surprise.
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As we go, we'll talk about the technology, the audio fidelity, and just the overall listening experience.
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Starting with the classic, very hip, very twee, tried and true.
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Vinyl. So there's a lot of pieces in our vinyl setup, but let's start with the star of the show, the turntable.
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A turntable is basically just the machine that spins a vinyl record at a perfectly steady speed while dragging a tiny needle through a groove. That is it.
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Yeah, it's actually kind of crazy how simple it is.
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At a microscopic level, the groove is literally a physical version of the music's waveform wrapped around in a spiral.
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So when the needle gets dragged through that groove, it vibrates and those vibrations are electrically sent to the cone of the speaker so that it vibrates in the exact same way, creating the sound.
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The hard part is all the stuff that wants to mess that up.
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The motor vibrates, the platter wobbles, the tone arm resonates, external vibrations from the floor or speakers feedback into the needle.
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A good turntable is one that can put up a fight against all of those problems.
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There are four main components to look at and each comes in different materials or configurations that have a sort of hierarchy in terms of performance.
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The higher you go, the more expensive it gets.
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So for our turntable, we got this project debut Evo two.
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It's actually Liam's cousin's turntable because the vintage techniques that we ordered on eBay never showed up.
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Strike one for physical media. It didn't show up.
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We're going to get to the bottom of it.
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We're going to find that turntable, but this is actually a great turntable.
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Apparently Liam's cousin has really cool stuff and really great taste.
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We're going to leave his address, work, and travel schedules in the description below.
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Okay, let's start with the motor.
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You can either have the motor directly connected to the platter, that's called direct drive, or you can put it off to the side and drive it with a belt.
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That's called belt drive.
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My understanding from my limited knowledge of This - Yes.
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Is I've heard that belt driven is better.
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The theory is the motor itself has all these little vibrations, but if you have a belt, it'll absorb some of those vibrations.
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Yeah. But the more I was researching into it, a very good motor driven turntable can actually be better than a belt driven because the belt itself can speed up and slow down because that like gear ratio's changing, but like the slightest amount.
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This is exactly what I was looking for.
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Just like little stuff to care about.
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Oh yeah, yeah, like that. I mean everybody says belt driven's better, but...
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Next is the needle, which is technically called a stylus.
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The tip comes in a few different shapes.
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Simply speaking, the sharper is the more detail it can pull from the groove.
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The trade off is that it has to be aligned more precisely because if it sits at even a slight angle, it can cause damage to the record so it demands more precision from everything else in your setup, which of course means driving up the overall cost.
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The stylus is connected to the cartridge, which converts those vibrations into electricity.
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It does this by moving a magnet near a copper coil.
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The magnet and coil can be arranged like this, which is called moving coil, which you'll see written as MC or like this, which is called moving magnet, which is called MM.
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Moving magnets, easier to make, put out actually a stronger signal, but moving coils are lighter.
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Like the coil is lighter than the magnet.
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And so they vibrate better.
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Ugh. But they cost more to make and they send out a weaker signal so you need to have a good phono pre-amp to boost that signal.
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And then finally we should talk about the tone arm.
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Basically what you want is something really light and really rigid.
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This one's made of carbon fiber.
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Yeah, dude. Which is an example of a modern technology that's actually better than everything that came before it.
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It's light, it's very rigid, but it also does dampen vibrations in a way that aluminum doesn't. So that's the turntable.
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And this is only one part that you need to play a record.
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Next up in our signal chain is the phono preamp.
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This takes the tiny electrical signal coming from the turntable and converts it into useful line level signal.
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The amplification that this is doing is massive in the sense of the s - the scale Line level signal is about one volt, but the cartridge is only putting out like one millivolt.
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So that means the signal has to be amplified around a thousand times.
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So this is just a little electronic signal created by - Tiny dude.
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By vibrating a needle like a guitar string.
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Yeah, yes. And this Makes it bigger.
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Yes, but not enough to power speaker yet. Got it.
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Just enough to get it worse. Okay.
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But it does more than just amplify.
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It also applies something called an RIA curve and basically there's a problem with the physical medium of vinyl.
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Like we said, vinyl records are basically a waveform wrapped in a spiral.
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The problem is that if the wave gets too big, it could run into the neighboring grooves.
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Since base frequencies usually run the loudest, they're the most likely to run into the next groove.
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So the solution is simple. Turn them down with an EQ.
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And high frequencies can be so small that actually just kind of gets lost in the noise of like the material itself.
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So you need to boost those as well so that they stand out.
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So you end up with a really like trebly sounding signal.
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And you can kind of hear it when you play it.
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And you can hear it when you play it. Yeah.
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And that's not just because it's tiny, it's because it's actually been modified from the original recording.
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And then what this box does is it just applies the reverse curve to it and gets it back to normal.
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I really like this.
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When was the last time you got something with a toggle switch?
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Yeah. Next up we have a passive preamp and switch.
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This is really just a source selector and a volume knob in a box.
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For our passive preamp, we got this shit sys - Sis.
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Sys stands for switch of shit.
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Apparently that's what everybody says. Really?
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No, I don't know what it originally stands for, but that's what everybody says now.
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Alongside the turntable, we could plug something else in and this is how you pick between your sources.
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And then the volume, it doesn't do any amplification.
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It can't. It has no power. It's passive.
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It just takes this signal and it can lower it. Can we Stack these?
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Yeah. Oh yeah, these can be next to each other.
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Dude, my favorite thing about these is that they're called shit.
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Dude, what are you gonna call your electronics company?
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Well, I'm gonna name it after my dad.
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Shit makes a lot of really good stuff. They do.
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Dude, I want a shit shirt. It's so many letters away from being the bad word that it makes me comfortable saying it.
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Oh, for sure. You can't demonetize us over this. Sure.
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Okay, still can't listen to music, but our last step to give our audio signal enough power to drive our speakers is the power amplifier.
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It basically takes that line level signal that's too weak to do anything and makes it powerful enough to push the cone of the speaker back and forth.
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Our power amp is this Fosse ZA3.
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Yeah, so this is a class D amp.
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Purist will say you need a class A.
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Class Ds have gotten so good that most people have said you don't need class A, and they use way less power and get way less hot.
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God, and some of this stuff, dude, is like, does it really make a difference? Yes. I like feel...
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It does. It makes all the difference.
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I love stupid little bullshit and final - This is full.
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Yeah, yeah. And we're making this video so we can learn about it.
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And so like when I look at pictures of Rick Rubin's house, I know what all that crap is.
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Or if I go to a cool guy like Liam's cousin's house, I can be like, "Oh yeah, dude. Nice Micro lidar stylist." And finally we have our speakers.
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We got these ELAC debut B6. 2s.
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These are made by Andrew Jones, a legendary speaker designer.
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And I mean, you can tell the design of these is phenomenal.
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You gotta give it the knock test. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
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It just, that's what you want.
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That's dense wood. Dude, I love this. Oh, Should we put these on?
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What do you think? I think it's classier.
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I think it's classier with them.
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It's kind of gauche to show them off. Uh-huh.
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If someone really wants to se, we'll pop the hood.
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It's like popping your hood at a car show.
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It's like if someone asks. Oh yeah, they wanna See.
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And because we wanna hear the knock, we also got this Speedwoofer 10E.
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So what is this subwoofer?
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It's just a bigger, it's just a bigger Wolfer.
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This is a giant cone?
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Yeah, it's just a big cone.
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Dude, this is such cool, like - Yeah.
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It's like equipment, man. Yeah. It's like physical stuff.
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Yeah, there's just something about vinyl.
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This really puts you in the room, forces you to be there.
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I mean, what can make this situation any better?
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Drugs, specifically legal kind.
142
This is the coffee from the Cometeer World Mug collection.
143
Inside this box are 32 cups of coffee from 16 different countries, 16 different roasters.
144
That's two from each origin.
145
So you can taste different coffee types head to head, figure out what you like.
146
Commentier takes coffee from some of the best roasters in the world.
147
Onyx, Intelligentcia, counterculture, bruise it to perfection, and Flash freezes it at negative 321 degrees, locking in the flavor at its exact best moment.
148
It chips frozen on dry ice directly to your door in little recyclable aluminum capsules.
149
All you gotta do is melt it. That's it.
150
No machine or grinder required. It's impossible to mess up.
151
Hot coffee, frozen puck, and eight ounces of hot water.
152
Ice latte, milk and ic first, then drizzle the coffee over the top.
153
Ice coffee, water and ice, or coffee on top.
154
Whether you're just getting into coffee or a full on snob, the Commentier World Mug is the perfect way to sample 16 of the best coffees in the world.
155
Find your own favorite. Advance the winners in the bracket, in the app, and get a personalized profile at the end.
156
Get $20 off your order by scanning the QR code, or go to commentier.com/speed20.
157
Next up, our reason for doing this video, CDs, baby, compact disk.
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Buy the numbers, CDs are actually higher fidelity than vinyl in.
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No wow and flutter, no surface noise, no tracking distortion.
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And in 2026, CDs are really having kind of a moment.
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And here's our theory. For the last decade, we've thought of music as something completely unlimited.
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Infinite songs, wherever, whenever.
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But that makes it harder for things to feel special.
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So I think that a lot of people have started craving something more intentional, but vinyl is expensive and all the stuff that you need is kind of complicated.
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But CDs are really cheap right now.
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You can build a serious CD collection for almost zero dollars and that solves most of the same problems that vinyl does.
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It fosters intentional listening.
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You actually own it and can hold it in your hands.
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And buying physical media from an artist is pretty much the best way to support them.
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Spotify's rev share model is broken. Yeah.
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With AI, it's only getting worse.
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So let's talk about our setup. To keep this all fair, we're using the same speakers, same power, amp, same little SIS, because we're just gonna change out the music source itself and to go with a compact disc setup, we only need two things.
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First, a transport.
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We've gone with a Shan Ling CR60.
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It's good, a little expensive, but not nearly as expensive as some of the other ones.
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And the second thing we need is a DAC, a digital to analog converter that takes the ones and zeros and turns it into an actual analog wave that our amp can send out to our speakers.
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We got this toping E32. Okay.
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Topping, SIS, shit. Great names. Yeah, dude. Great Names.
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Okay, what to say about this?
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Number one, a transport is different than a player.
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A CD transport is shooting out ones and zeros. Mm.
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A CD player is shooting out a sound wave that your speakers can do.
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Got it. Similar to the - You see somebody with a CD transport.
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You go, "Oh, 6CD player." It's a transport.
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Yeah. Okay. Another perfect example of how to be annoying when you own this.
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Cool CD play. It's actually a transport.
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This actually just exports 10 zero, needs to be converted into audio right here.
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CD player with just... You know what, don't worry about it.
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You want more line? Where are you going?
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Where are you going? People say you should spend really good money on a transport because it can get rid of a thing called jitter.
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However, a lot of DAX now can just correct that and so it's not really a problem.
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If you were gona cheap out on one, cheap out with the transport, get a good deck, it can kind of help fix it.
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The technology that makes CDs possible is absolutely fascinating.
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We'll talk about it a lot more in our members only podcast.
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Yes. The Legion podcast, so go to speed.co to learn more about that.
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But for now, we've got the digital signal that gets turned into analog and then it gets sent through the exact same chain out to the speakers.
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I'm hoping this is it.
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And finally, our third setup, the one that we are all most familiar with recently, Lossless Streaming.
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Spotify launched in 2008 and the fact that you could access millions of songs, any song essentially that had ever been made instantly, it felt like magic.
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And nobody was complaining that it was 160 kilobits per second.
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And if you don't know, that sounds like Sh - 160.
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320. Title launched in 2014 and they offered CD quality streaming, but the real turning point was in 2021 when Apple just dropped lossless into Apple Music for free.
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But just because you can get lossless to your phone doesn't mean you can get it to your speakers necessarily.
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If you're using Bluetooth, especially for AirPods, your audio is getting pretty compressed.
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Yeah, maybe you got like the new Bose that advertise AppX Bluetooth, which is nearly lossless, but if you're using an iPhone, it doesn't matter because Apple doesn't support AppDex as of right now.
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So it's really easy to think you're getting lossless, but then by the time it comes out of your speakers or headphones, it's definitely compressed.
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So the easiest way to get those lossless streams to your speakers is you either plug your phone in directly with a cable or you buy something like this, the Weem Pro Streamer.
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So basically the way that this works is instead of the stream coming through the internet to your phone, your phone and this device just have a handshake and it basically gives this device your Spotify permissions or your Apple Music permissions and it just pulls the stream straight from the internet.
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If you've ever used the Spotify app on your TV, that's this.
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All right, let's go set this up.
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Okay, so it's actually been a week since we shot the overview of the gear and that's for a couple reasons.
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Number one, our phoneo pre-amp was just dead on arrival, so we had to get a new one.
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And number two, the vinyl that we planned on listening to Mac Marco's this old dog.
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It's the only one that we could get cleared that we both like that has good mastering on it.
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It got delayed in shipping.
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Yeah, it was like a week late.
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So right off the bat, vinyl is a huge pain in the ass.
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And if we're keeping the part in about borrowing Liam's cousin's turntable, the good news is the original turntip we ordered did show up.
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So we're gonna use that. We wore the same clothes because we thought about like trying to fake that, none of that happened.
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But we both have different haircuts.
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Yeah. And we're like, you know what, let's be honest, this is the inconveniences of doing the vinyl.
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But before we do the vinyl, I thought it'd be good for us to just baseline compare to our original speaker setup.
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Here we go. I mean - That's not that bad.
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That sounds pretty good. That took me by surprise. Suppose Pill?
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Pretty good, dude. Okay.
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You don't feel it in your chest.n' feel it all around you.
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It's like a single sound coming from a point but overall impressive for a little pill.
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So now after over a week of waiting, let's get into the vinyl.
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Whoa, there he is.
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One of the cooler things about vinyl is that you get this big book.
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Wow, dude. I feel like I'm handling precious cargo.
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See, you know, I have an activity to do while Zach loads up the song.
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What side is Moonlight on the River? Oh, I see. Side B.
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It's a much more active experience for everybody involved.
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Oh, already. Tweaking, tweak.
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Adjusting Settings.
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Dude, already a way bigger sound.
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I mean, I think most of that's because of the speakers.
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Lots of crackles and pops though.
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Let's listen to it on CD. Do I have to switch input?
241
And then decide it.
242
Oh. Yeah, that's different. I'm home.
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Oh, let me put up our display.
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You know, I might be imagining it, but I think I'm missing the warmth.
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It's cleaner though. Yeah.
246
I mean, not having the, that piss and crack on pop.
247
Very, very quiet on the vinyl, but still you can hear that it's gone.
248
I could see how this would be divisive to two groups.
249
Yeah, yeah. What are you talking about? I Just missed the button.
250
It just doesn't sound the same. It's better.
251
It's really better.
252
Whoa. It's even basically.
253
Okay. I think I prefer vinyl.
254
Ah, yeah, I knew you'd say That. I gotta say, dude.
255
The vinyl is, like, fuzzier.
256
And then you listen to CD and you're like, "Oh, this is, like, perfect, but it is sterile in a way." The real test for me is the difference between CD and lossless streaming.
257
Let's see if it starts playing. It might be really loud.
258
I think this sounds better than CD.
259
I do wanna clock and just call out.
260
Without getting off the couch, we could listen to almost any song that we wanted to listen to.
261
You know? I don't know what it is.
262
It does sound different though, doesn't it?
263
It sounds a little warmer. But I don't know if that's just because we went from vinyl straight to CD.
264
It was, like, such an obvious switch.
265
I wanna try to start the song on all of them at the same time and switch between the live.
266
Oh, okay. So if I'm honest with myself - Yeah.
267
And I hate to say this - Uh-huh.
268
I think streaming music with a good stereo setup.
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Beyond, like, the reading the book and, like, the nostalgic element of it is, like, really good.
270
You could justify all three - For sure.
271
For different reasons, because you're like, "Okay, I got the vinyl, because I love, like, the way it sounds.".
272
And the, And The display's big.
273
Yeah, and I support the artist.
274
I have the CD because I want to be able to buy something for 10 bucks - Yeah.
275
And have it forever.
276
And then, yeah, you have the streaming thing because this is the world we live in.
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Straight up convenient. And it's good.
278
We spend a lot of time talking about jitter and RIA curves, but after a point, that technical stuff is just one piece of the overall experience.
279
I think that the gear is just an excuse to care and caring is kind of the whole point.
280
I think the important thing is that you do choose and that's one thing that we're trying to do and trying to encourage other people to do in every video that we make for this channel intentional with the clothes that we choose to wear, the cars that we all choose to drive, how we treat ourselves, how we talk to other people and the music that we choose to listen to.
281
Because I think when it's just an algorithm feeding you an endless stream of content, music stops being something that you choose and it just kind of turns into something that happens to you and it would be a shame to let some code compose the score to your movie.
282
Also, supporting artists is very cool.
283
Thank you guys for watching this video and our other videos.
284
We make stuff about clothes and cars and activities.
285
If you liked this video, go check out some of those and if you like a few of those, then maybe think about subscribing.
286
We have a website with a bunch of stuff on it.
287
We make clothes, we have a book club, so go to speed.co to check all that stuff out. All right.
288
I love you. Bye.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you’ll practice English listening and speaking using a video comparing vinyl, CDs, and streaming. You’ll learn to follow technical discussions, understand casual dialogue, and improve pronunciation by mimicking natural speech patterns. It’s great for IELTS speaking practice, as it covers explaining concepts and comparing options—key skills for the exam.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Lossless audio: High-quality audio that doesn’t lose data during compression.
- Turntable: A device that plays vinyl records by spinning them and using a needle.
- Stylus: The tiny needle on a turntable that reads the grooves of a record.
- Belt drive: A type of turntable motor that uses a belt to spin the platter, reducing vibrations.
- Audio fidelity: How accurately a sound system reproduces the original audio.
- Feedback: Unwanted sound caused by vibrations (e.g., from speakers) affecting the turntable needle.
Practice Tips
To improve English pronunciation and speaking, use the shadow speech technique with this video. The dialogue is conversational but includes technical terms, so start by pausing after short phrases (e.g., “There is a change in the air”) and repeating them, focusing on stress and intonation. The speakers often use casual filler words like “Yeah” and “I mean”—mimic these to sound more natural. For IELTS speaking practice, try summarizing the video’s main points aloud: “The video compares vinyl, CDs, and streaming, discussing sound quality and setup.” Repeat sections with faster speech (e.g., “the motor vibrates, the platter wobbles”) to build fluency. Learning English with YouTube videos like this helps you adapt to real-world language, making your speaking more confident and versatile.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you have a belt, it'll absorb · If someone really wants to se, we'll pop |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be aligned · is connected · can be arranged |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has also gotten · I've heard · have gotten |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | needle, which is · this, which is · Bluetooth, which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.