First, your post is excellent, informative and well explained end to end. But in particular your discussion of the difference between analog and digital transmission methods reminded me of this wonderful short video essay about Claude Shannon who basically pioneered the analog to digital paradigm shift:
http://vimeo.com/98345492 It was the change that no-one saw coming: the idea that we could take a book, a painting or a song and send it through cables and wires and even thin air to the other end of the world - and it would be identical on the other side. But this idea underpins everything about the Information Age we live in. How did we make such a mind bending transition into the digital world? And how does it work? It turns out it's all based on a concept that is surprisingly beautiful in its simplicity. This short video essay explores what that idea is and tells you about the man who figured it all out. About 6 minutes long and highly recommended even for (especially for) non-techies. SBB > On Jul 11, 2014, at 1:27 PM, RonM <ronm.6h3...@no-mx.forums.slimdevices.com> > wrote: > > > It's not really surprising that the same themes keep arising around the > questions of digital sound capture/transmission/decoding and sound > perception. Some of the facts can seem counter-intuitive to many, and > it can be a struggle to assimilate the information. > > I think there are two fundamental issues here: a) the nature of digital > sound encoding vs analog encoding and b) the nature and malleability of > perception. These have been addressed by others more cogently than can > I, but here is my perspective. > > It's instructive to think about the differences between telegraphs and > early telephones, which can be understood as digital and analog devices > respectively. A telegraph is a kind of binary device. There are dots > and there are dashes (and the spaces in-between). The signal is very > nearly impervious to poor transmission conditions, as the dot/dash > signal can be easily picked out from very substantial background noise; > when decoded, the error rate will be practically zero (assuming a > trained operator) regardless of noise on the line. The resulting > typescript will always be the same, regardless of operator. > > An early telephone, on the other hand, was very much impacted by > transmission noise. The analog signal (the words being spoken at one > end, and transmitted as an analog waveform) can be masked or altered > substantially by line conditions, with great risk of data loss, and > certainly loss of audio quality. > > In the case of digital sound, the data is binary in the same way that > the telegraph is binary. "Noise" is largely irrelevant, the digital > packets are managed in a way that information is NOT lost during > transmission. An exact copy of the digitized data is made available by > the transport mechanism to the DAC, regardless of transmission > conditions. Of course, the sound quality is impacted by the DAC, the > amplifer/preamp and the speakers, but the DAC will get the same > information to work with regardless of how the digital packets are > provided to it. This is not true for an analog process. > > Perception is a vast topic, and one that has been covered well here. I > am by profession a psychologist, and familiar with (but not remotely an > expert on) the literature on perception and memory, and how our > experience of things like sound is very much mediated by factors other > than the energy impacting our ears in the form of sound waves. > Experience is CONSTRUCTED by our brains; the bottom line is that we > should never trust "eyewitness" (or "earwitness") accounts of anything > unless corroborated by hard data, if we're actually interested in the > truth. > > It's why double-blind tests are essential if we are to trust anyone > claiming to hear a difference between two signals. > > R. > > > > LMS on a dedicated music server (FitPC2) > Transporter (ethernet) - main music listening, Onkyo receiver, Paradigm > speakers > Duet (wifi) - home theatre 5.1, Sony receiver, Energy speakers > Boom 1 (wifi) - workspace > Boom 2 (wifi) - various (deck, garage, etc.) > Radio (wifi) - home office > Touch x 2 - awaiting deployment > UE Radio - awaiting deployment > Control - 2 Controllers (main listening, home theatre, all others), > Squeeze Remote (on Surface Pro 2), Music2Touch (BB Playbook) > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > RonM's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=17029 > View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=101788 > > _______________________________________________ > audiophiles mailing list > audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com > http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles >
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