Ongoing History Daily: Which colour of vinyl sounds better?

Most vinyl records are black. That’s the result of mixing in a certain amount of carbon into the raw polyvinyl chloride that goes into making the record. But for promotional, marketing, and collectible reasons, vinyl can also come in a rainbow of colours.

However, it’s helpful to know that records that come in any other colour than black may not sound as good. There’s something about how the carbon helps stabilize the polyvinyl chloride that makes the grooves store information more faithfully.

What records sound the worst? In my experience, picture discs are better for looking at than listening to. And neon, glow-in-the-dark, glittery, and spattered-colour records sound the worst with plenty of surface noise.

If you must collect coloured vinyl, stick with the standard colours. They tend to sound okay.