I love these threads because I end up reading webpage that bubble up from Google with all sorts of information that I didn't know yet.
I think it was Pat who mentioned variable pitch on vinyl so that the groove gets a bit more space for loud passages etc. What I found is that they need to delay the stereo signal for variable pitch.... and they do that with a digital memory meaning an ADC and DAC are in the chain! Market is reporting a 30% increase in 2008 vinyl sales compared to the same period last year. That's going up as fast as it went down... Neil Young is at it again because of the legal statement that 128 Kbps MP3's are "CD-quality" (yes, they won that in court). Two links: http://achurchlessfaith.blogspot.com/2007/05/10-years-since-neil-young-blasted.html http://www.moultonlabs.com/more/so_whats_so_good_about_digital_anyway/P0/ A passage from that second link: " So about two years ago, some Japanese researchers decided to approach things differently. They didnt use AB testing at first, and they didnt ask the listeners to report back at first. Instead, they made a recording (of acoustical musical instruments) that they knew by physical measurement had frequencies up to 50 KHz. present, and they then made a copy of that recording that was low-pass filtered to 20 KHz. They played both versions for their test listeners through a monitor system that they knew by physical measurement could reproduce frequencies up to 50 KHz., while observing, via electro-encephalograph machines, their listeners brain activity. Bingo! The recordings that were filtered produced much less brain activity than did the broad-band recordings. So they knew that the brain noticed a difference. Then they asked the subjects to comment on the quality of the recorded sounds, and found that the listeners reported the original broad-band sounds to be interesting, satisfying and beautiful much more than they reported those qualities for band-limited sounds. " What about that heh? The second link is very interesting to read in it's entirety. Maybe humans have yet another sense we don't know about ;-) Also, I believe it was Mister O. here in the thread (I didn't start that name ;-) who wrote about a nice test where 2 vinyls, one standard analog and the other the same performance but after gone through the digital domain (without editing) first. Mr O. believed it was safe to suggest this test because these vinyl's aren't for sale. Well, he can go ahead because they will cut a 1-off vinyl for you for $50 or you can even buy your own cutter from EUR. 3,500.- up. Some in this thread state that vinyl is considered "best" by many who work in the recording business. I'm not sure that "many" prefer it but some will, like Neil Young for example. I do read a lot of reports from profs that they prefer full-analog monitoring because with digital monitoring they end up with a headache every day. That sounds related to that Japanese experiment to me. I know that vinyl is a flawed medium but I also know it will do 50 kHz frequencies with ease (CD4 quadrophonic vinyl does it) and with enough money spent on it, can go up to even 100 kHz, like some amps and speaker-systems can. It doesn't get cut that way because the analog master tapes don't go that high... but wait, may be this is the reason some audiophiles prefer that direct-cut vinyl! (direct cut means the signal doesn't get recorded on tape first; it's fed directly to a vinyl cutter). All in all, I prefer digital. I do not like CD's (obsolete imho) but hey it's what most of my music was stored on when I bought it. I also know that I would be ready for analog again if they would invent a really good medium for it (like those sci-fi crystals with infinite analog capacity!). cheers, Nick. -- DeVerm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DeVerm's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=18104 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=53355
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