So, essentially, the general consensus is that digital audio is great promise usually left unfulfilled.
With digital audio, recodring became easier and cheaper, due to ever dropping prices of everything. So every idiot and his dog could much more easily make a CD than they could an LP. And why should they bother too much, when they know it will be ripped, turned into an MP3 and freely distributed over the Internet?
Then, there are the loudness contests. These days, it seems the only really important parameter is how loud it will play at your home. Obviously, this will ruin any talk of dynamic range, it will be happily sacrificed for sheer loudness. What is lost can easily be grasped by anyone by simply playing a Vangelis greatest hits CD, he's one of those people who like to start small and quiet and build it up towards a hard hitting end, so they CAN'T compress him much, and it does show what the medium can offer. Even his piece "Metallic rain" (soundtrack from the "Blade Runner" movie) has a slow and small beginning and at one point it all comes crashing in. If you want to compress that, you need some extra precise gain riding, and it doen't really work even so, you hear something is not as it should be, moving up from two pizzicato instruments to 22 tutta forza is kinda noticeable.
Yes, a primise unrealized, I can go along with that.
With digital audio, recodring became easier and cheaper, due to ever dropping prices of everything. So every idiot and his dog could much more easily make a CD than they could an LP. And why should they bother too much, when they know it will be ripped, turned into an MP3 and freely distributed over the Internet?
Then, there are the loudness contests. These days, it seems the only really important parameter is how loud it will play at your home. Obviously, this will ruin any talk of dynamic range, it will be happily sacrificed for sheer loudness. What is lost can easily be grasped by anyone by simply playing a Vangelis greatest hits CD, he's one of those people who like to start small and quiet and build it up towards a hard hitting end, so they CAN'T compress him much, and it does show what the medium can offer. Even his piece "Metallic rain" (soundtrack from the "Blade Runner" movie) has a slow and small beginning and at one point it all comes crashing in. If you want to compress that, you need some extra precise gain riding, and it doen't really work even so, you hear something is not as it should be, moving up from two pizzicato instruments to 22 tutta forza is kinda noticeable.
Yes, a primise unrealized, I can go along with that.
Last edited:
well unless you just collect albums from pre 85 you have digital recordings cut in vinyl, which is daft. But we had realised that.
Of course, but have you noticed that most people talk of great recordings in terms of LPs rather than CDs?
Overlall, I agree with you, I have some CDs which are great as recordings and it's easily heard, just as I have a few LPs which sound better than any other I have (e.g. Decca Phase 4 Stereo), but overall and in mass, I find that LP recordings were more thoughtfully done, very possibly because the process was more complicated and expensive, so people tried harder.
Overlall, I agree with you, I have some CDs which are great as recordings and it's easily heard, just as I have a few LPs which sound better than any other I have (e.g. Decca Phase 4 Stereo), but overall and in mass, I find that LP recordings were more thoughtfully done, very possibly because the process was more complicated and expensive, so people tried harder.
Yes, just like any analog medium.
Most records/tape/whatever analog sound crappy, we listen to them because the music is great. Exceptional recordings are there, but a distinct minority. Exactly the same as with CD, the medium isn't the issue, what they're putting on it is. The difference is in the fidelity of output to input. The issue is the input, regardless of medium or era.
And, uhhh, ever tried lugging a record playing in your rucksack while jogging?? The wow! The flutter!
Jan
The point is progress. CD has replaced vinyl in most peoples homes even though they could have gramophones if they wanted. What your left with is personal choice. Some people like steam trains but we ain't going back to that either.
If you are suggesting that it's the greater objective fidelity of digital that listeners find unsatisfying, I think that is likely false in most cases. Perhpas, it is true for some few, but I doubt this is so for the many. Consider, that obviously, there can be no greater fidelity than that of the live original event. If what you suggest were solely the reason for the disatisfaction with digital sound, then, those who "complain" about the sound of typical digital playback would find even more to complain about the sound of live performances for the same reason. Speaking for myself, I do not find the sound of unamplified live performances unsatisfying, quite the contrary.
Those who may at one time have preferred AM over FM likely felt that way due to the familiarity of AM versus the then new FM. I doubt you would find any siginificant number of listeners today who prefer the sound of music via AM than via FM. More tha thirty years afer it's introduction, I don't think the same can be said about the numbers of those who still prefer the sound of music via vinyl than via CD.
Problem is that I have daily access to some of the best digital equipment available (close to regardless of cost) yet a good setup Project TT (or a Rega or a...) played through a good Riaa creams it when I comes to conwaying the emotions in the recording. This bugs me quite a lot as I feel that either I am not doing a very good job with my speakers, or we (the industry) have missed a great point in making playback equipment for Audio. The only viable explanation i see is that we have forgotten system thinking and employed all in suboptimal unit perfection not really caring for the end result. I'm as guilty as anyone working with most effort on speakers trying to make them the least compromised as absolutely possible (for me with the skills and tools I have) so I am not I any way better than anyone else. I just can't help feeling that we lost focus along the way.
Last edited:
MIIB,
One thing you have to keep in mind is that most audio equipment is designed in isolation to work with as many other devices as possible. The days of consoles and one company making all the components or one company making everything from source to speakers is very much limited to the larger Japanese companies such as Sony and Panasonic, etc. Most of what we are calling audiophile equipment is made in isolation as I say, a company will make speakers or pre-amps or such things. Some companies such as Nelson Pass's do try to cover the entire system but those are few and far between.
I can work on speakers all I want and I am not going to influence an amplifier company to make their amplifier work specifically with my designs, that is just not going to happen. So we are in effect stuck with the current commercial structure of the industry, we just have to learn to work with that. Unless you are going to do what I intend to do and make a self powered speaker system I don't see any way around the way things are.
One thing you have to keep in mind is that most audio equipment is designed in isolation to work with as many other devices as possible. The days of consoles and one company making all the components or one company making everything from source to speakers is very much limited to the larger Japanese companies such as Sony and Panasonic, etc. Most of what we are calling audiophile equipment is made in isolation as I say, a company will make speakers or pre-amps or such things. Some companies such as Nelson Pass's do try to cover the entire system but those are few and far between.
I can work on speakers all I want and I am not going to influence an amplifier company to make their amplifier work specifically with my designs, that is just not going to happen. So we are in effect stuck with the current commercial structure of the industry, we just have to learn to work with that. Unless you are going to do what I intend to do and make a self powered speaker system I don't see any way around the way things are.
The only problem I have with the CD standard is the fact that he exact same CD on one player sounds so different than on another brand. This is to me the most vexing problem with the playback. I have an older Sony ES player that sounds so smooth and clean, though I do understand some would find fault with the players DAC but at the same time I have a Technics CDP that just sounds terrible. Sometimes it just seems to be a certain companies designs that have particular sounds, I have found that I just dislike all the consumer grade products from Technics. I can't tell you why but they annoy me to no end and I just stop listening to those systems. I can't say anything about their audiophile level equipment but I do know that the consumer brand has a distinctive sound that I can identify, I would call it lifeless, something is just not right with the sound.
You have heard a good Turntable tho, not just the bottom of the range cheapies you list above?
- Status
- Not open for further replies.