The future of analogue sources

[john curl]

Congratulations gk7 for getting 'proper' headphones. I use much the same thing to evaluate changes.

 

[SY]

My Stax SR 507 arrived today. It's completely analog. SY would not appreciate therefor. But for to those who have not an I/O implanted very recommend.

Have you listened to a demo of the Smyth Realiser? I'm very much not a headphone person, but if I were, this would be at the top of my list.

 

[john curl]

Cassettes were never a truly hi fi storage medium, just convenient, like CD.

 

[sofaspud]

Truly hi-fi doesn't drive the market as a whole. My comments were directed only towards "the future of analogue sources."

 

[scott wurcer]

Teenagers, who once may have scoffed at their grandparents' and parents' record collections, now wait in line to get the latest releases.

Right

 

[kevinkr]

Actually I have met a few that do just this right here in the Boston area.

 

[Chris Hornbeck]

At my favorite local haunt, Been Around Records, the twenty-somethings head for the vinyl shelves (three walls floor to ceiling - worth a visit if you're in the middle of nowhere USA) and also scarf up any old record player in sight. The ones I've talked to seem pretty knowledgeable and keen to learn more of the care and feeding.

Whatever the reasons, it's really happening.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[NorthStar]

Headphones, from iPods and iPads and iPhones and Macs and MP3 players; are they analog?

 

[gk7]

Have you listened to a demo of the Smyth Realiser? I'm very much not a headphone person, but if I were, this would be at the top of my list.

I have not heard it yet (but will do if I find a dealer in Vienna); for "top of the list" the
price is a bit prohibitive 3190,00 € :-(

Congratulations gk7 for getting 'proper' headphones. I use much the same thing to evaluate changes.

Thank you John, 'proper' is almost an understatement they are really impressive, I wish
I could afford speakers who do only 80% of those, if they exist...

 

[gk7]

Headphones, from iPods and iPads and iPhones and Macs and MP3 players; are they analog?

Anything in audio except for digital storage is analog by it´s very nature, no ?

 

[SY]

I have not heard it yet (but will do if I find a dealer in Vienna); for "top of the list" the
price is a bit prohibitive 3190,00 €

In the fashion audio world, that's "entry level." It's important that, in a demo, they run a calibration for your ears. Night and day difference.

It may be cheaper to order it from the US...

 

[PMA]

fashion audio world

Modern digital times call for smartphone digital nastiness and would label it inaudible, based on sophisticated aural research

 

[SY]

And it may well be. Or maybe not. You'd need more than one spectrum at one frequency to be able to make any sort of measurement-based judgment. I use my smart phone (Apple) for playing MP3s while I'm on the train or out hiking. It works very well for that.

 

[gk7]

It may be cheaper to order it from the US...

Yes, € 640,- cheaper ! I always wonder how our european importers calculate their prices...

 

[scott wurcer]

Actually I have met a few that do just this right here in the Boston area.

The tone was more of folks filling the lobby at Virgin waiting for the latest.

I support these local folks (Salem MA) they even import a REGA setup. Has anyone tried the REGA phono to USB? This rig has to be better than the things I see at Costco/Target. OTOH if you check their catalog it is definately not pop music, but lots of cool stuff.

Important Records

 

[fas42]

Anything in audio except for digital storage is analog by it´s very nature, no ?

And even digital storage is analogue - the underlying physical 'bits' are extremely tatty analogue 'things' in many cases, which require a great deal of processing and digesting - as a hidden, low level carrying on - before one can be 100% confident in them as digital data.

 

[a.wayne]

Have you actually looked at real music w/wo the 22.05kHz brickwall filter? The usual demos are with impulses or squarewaves. Music does not in general contain sudden discontiuities.

So why test with it ...?

And the 65dB or so max S/N, assuming perfectly noiseless vinyl and turntable (which don't exist).

There's a reason that ALL mission-critical data recording and playback has long abandoned analog methods.

Depends on the mission ...

A few examples where I had numbers on hand:

Best: Ortofon Rondo, -80dB
Kiseki Blue Goldspot, -79
Lyra Atlas, -69
Miyajima, -70
Audio Technica 150MLX, -62
Denon DL103, -69

So I'll grant you -70 as a good average number for high end cartridges.

Thanks , generosity duly noted , anything on listening room noise floor ...?

Aha now 70 dB is an "average", first you claimed " 65 dB max."

post #158 "65dB or so max S/N"
post #166 "Best: Ortofon Rondo, -80dB"

Just 15 dB ...

Take it ...

It's a very common observation, and as the years have passed, many folks (including me) also almost always prefer an earlier to a later CD version of the same music. Very strange, since the hardware for conversion just gets better; so shouldn't a newer "remastered" version be inherently better, rather than almost always worse?

There are exceptions (Columbia, for one) but the general rule seems to be that modern (post maybe mid 1990's) remasters of older analog material are being made by deaf idiots, not to put to fine a point on it. They're compressed, often digitally clipped, wierdly eq'ed, you name it - it's being done. No reason other than stupidity, as I see it.

All of the hootin and hollerin about analog vs. digital is apples and oranges without a lot more control than is ever mentioned. Yeah, Internet.

All good fortune,
Chris

I can agree with most of this ....

Same here (50's), but I let myself free of using some emoticon(s), or not.



Chris, where do you see analogue sources say, twenty years from now?

Same as toobs , Sy uses toobs , so we know they are special like analog LP and of course not used on missions anymore ...

 

[gk7]

And even digital storage is analogue

Thats not what I meant, do not confuse things.

- the underlying physical 'bits' are extremely tatty analogue 'things' in many cases, which require a great deal of processing and digesting - as a hidden, low level carrying on - before one can be 100% confident in them as digital data.

Sorry, that´s nonsense.

 

[fas42]

Sorry, that´s nonsense.

In what way is it nonsense?