A vinyl - .flac comparison — I have "I Know that You Know" played by Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo and other stellar late-swing musicians on Everest Records. I believe it was a budget label, because I bought it decades ago when I looked at my wallet and mostly bought budget records.
Today I bought a .flac of the same track from PrestoMusic.com.
On the vinyl, they sound as though they are behind the line between the speakers. The disc has pops and dust noise. But the disc sounds more real than the .flac, and overall more pleasant to listen to. The .flac sounds to me as though it a higher average dB level but less dynamic range. I didn't see on Presto whether the .flac was from a CD and if so, when remastered for CD. But whoever did it spoiled the whole while perhaps improving some details.
