Regrets, I've had a few,
But then again...
As I've pointed out on more than one occasion, there's so much sound quality available that people will sacrifice a bit to get more material into the space available. All this stuff about LPs is just a bunch of people who've let their feelings run amok without regard to practicality.
Feelings, feelings, nothing more than feelings...
Here in the UK we have a program called ''Desert Island Discs' (DisCs) invented by a dead guy called Roy Plumley. Celebrities are asked which 8 records they would want if marooned on a desert island.
Imagine you were just allowed an iPod full. How many of you would take lossless and how many MP3s? It's a no-brainer.
w
But then again...
As I've pointed out on more than one occasion, there's so much sound quality available that people will sacrifice a bit to get more material into the space available. All this stuff about LPs is just a bunch of people who've let their feelings run amok without regard to practicality.
Feelings, feelings, nothing more than feelings...
Here in the UK we have a program called ''Desert Island Discs' (DisCs) invented by a dead guy called Roy Plumley. Celebrities are asked which 8 records they would want if marooned on a desert island.
Imagine you were just allowed an iPod full. How many of you would take lossless and how many MP3s? It's a no-brainer.
w
To me there is still the paradox that, although many vinyl recordings are mastered from digital, or pass via a digital delay line at the pressing plant, they are still found to be inherently superior to 'digital' once they have gone via the vinyl disc. What is the technical explanation for this?
The confused answer usually given, it seems to me, is that the vinyl version has been taken from a different, less compressed master, or some such. But if the vinyl version went through a digital path (and they usually do these days, from what I have read), then this is an argument that the only reason vinyl is considered superior is because of marketing, not technical reasons.
In the sense of the technical aspects, digital should have come much further and sounded a lot better than it usually does.
OTOH, you seemed to assume that the people that prefer Vinyl are mental cripples that just can't get past their hang-ups and accumulated baggage.
Vinyl is considered superior, by the people I know, due to better sonics than CDs, not marketing.
If you'll excuse the play on words, you're starting to sound like a broken record.
Best Regards,
TerryO
Maybe, it all boils down to implementation? Arguing over which is technically superior is meaningless if in order to realise this technical superiority in a real-world implementation is a difficult task. So yes digital is superior but only if implemented with great care - more care than is maybe shown in a lot of digital equipment that is designed to a budget.
Yup. We can barely tie our own shoelaces.😀
Lots of people returning to vinyl after being fooled back in the 80's.
jeff
Not only the equipment, but the materials and the actual manufacturing process as well.
Best Regards,
TerryO
But where is all of this marketing? If anything, most of the marketing is tied to digital. Not only that, the "technical" arguments are anti-vinyl as well. The argument is that people like yourself don't share the same experiences as people who like vinyl.
John
There is digital and there is digital... one has to consider the sample rate & bit depth. A vinyl LP is likely mastered from a digital file that has not yet been decimated for transfer to CD.
In the end it is about execution.
dave
John,
Your last statement is key, as I'm coming to the conclusion that a few of the recent posts have been by people that have never really experienced both formats. Some of the assertions have been just plain silly and indicate, at best, a very nodding acquaintence with what Vinyl is capable of. Experienced individuals, regardless of which medium they favor, are rarely as dismissive of Vinyl as what I've seen here.
Best Regards,
TerryO
Does anyone have any evidence here? Rather than just 'likely' is there anything anyone has (for example) which describes the technical details of the delay lines used when cutting LP masters?
dave,
You're absolutely correct and it makes a world of difference. Any media is no better than the source material. It's just the old GIGO principle.
Best regards,
Terry
What a question. It's not better, unless you like watching your source rotating slowly ,or like it to be an electro mechanical device.
You have to be joking Terry, when I was a kid records were played with needles. I lived through the vinyl era, and watched it pass without regret. It's like you guys just can't get out of the past. Valves (tubes), I don't have any of those anymore either except in instrument amps. Steam locos are nice, but not for transport. Why not join some historical re-enactment society or go hunting with a musket? I got some good homemade black powder here. I made it for a laugh.
w
No. There is no real marking of digital qua digital. That ended 20 years ago. Except for a minuscule niche, no one remembers or cares.
Sorry, you've lost me there. 😕
I tired one of those with great hopes that it might do something cool. It just sounded awful - gimmicky. Maybe your version was better. I wanted to know if the faults of vinyl are what make it sound good.
I have, yes. And tape, for sure! Many times. But it's easier with digital.
My point of asking "does it matter?" was to know if all the faults of vinyl really get in the way of the music? For good vinyl on a good turntable, I just don't find that it does. The faults are there, but they usually don't get in the way. And on superb vinyl payback, they are simply not noticeable (to me).
The only advantage I hear to digital is lower noise and a more steady piano. The lower noise may not even be a blessing.
I suppose if you are really bothered by tape hiss, or the occasional pop, then digital recordings are going to be great for you. Those things just don't bother me. Don't like them, but don't mind them - much.
Digital is wonderful for the convenience. Everything on a music server. But better -worse? No -just different. Tho I must admit, some of the best playback I've heard has been tape or vinyl. The problem was that it was on equipment far, far out of my price range.
Waki,
I realize that you're several decades older than I am, but we're not talking about 78's.
Best Regards,
TerryO
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