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Digital vs Audio Formats in Music

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That was a nice talk, thanks for sharing!

I think it is important to take into account a lot of common things done to modern music/remastered older music that is a detriment to sound quality, the main culprit being dynamic compression.
 
DIGITAL VS ANALOG

Well everyone went to bed right now but later on we can dive in this hot topic. I hope we hear more discussion by newer and less vocal AK members. Less mic hogging by regular debaters hopefully.

And lets post some other videos and articles on this topic. The one I uploaded on Youtube is from the NPR archives.
 
Really interesting. Thanks for that.

What I found most informative about it was how he was describing why early CDs tended to sound thin. I have some older CDs which have higher dynamic range than their reissues, but sound very tinny at the same time. It makes sense what he says though, how they weren't properly remastered for CD. I imagine the digital to analog (and vice versa) technology wasn't too advanced at that time either.

As for LPs versus CDs, I like them both depending on the mastering.
 
Digital can be high quality soundwise. And it can be nice listening. I think abuse of Digital Audio Workstation hardware capabilities is the biggest issue with digital. There's no law of physics to keep engineers honest as long as 0 dbfs is maximum level.
 
:yikes: another digital versus analog discussion/argument. :boring:

I have CDs and pure analog LPs with excellent sound, poor sound and most of all mediocre sound. The driver behind sound quality is not the format, it's how the music is recorded, mixed, processed and mastered. At least that's my experience. ymmv
 
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Low quality sound has been with us since the first attempts at recording. It used to be enough to get any kind of playback out of a groove in moving media. That was the novelty which sold the first recordings. Musically limited AM radio brought a sound standard to the masses who couldn't fathom what the hi-fi fanatics were hearing that was allegedly so much better. Better media and stereo recordings made music on AM obsolete, it's job taken over by stereo hi-fi FM radio. Yet even with "better" at hand we bought FM converters to transpose the superior FM content down to the AM standard which gave us the the material, but not all of it. The late '70s and the '80s brought better sound to our homes and cars although it took car manufacturers a longer while to catch up. We settled for cassettes in our cars until car CD player development caught up to demand. But holding us back were the cheap battery powered portable cassette and CD players whose lower capabilities opened the market for data compressed portable compressed digital music players as the next step in our lo-fi arsenal.

This is just people being people. We're not all the same. There are folks who will treasure something valuable, and there are those who see something valuable as a means to profit. There are fans of refinement and there are those satisfied with the basics. It's the ragweed that makes the rose look good.
 
nailer said:
I have CDs and pure analog LPs with excellent sound, poor sound and most of all mediocre sound. The driver behind sound quality is not the format, it's how the music is recorded, mixed, processed and mastered. At least that my experience. ymmv
Click to expand...

I agree 100% but that sort of level-headed reason is usually neither accepted nor appreciated by either side of the digital vs analog argument.
 
I haven't been an AK member for very long and I think I've seen about three or so of the "analog vs digital" threads already. I can see why longer serving members just sigh or get huffy over it being rehashed.

As per nailer, I love all my music, whether it is digital or analog, and depending upon how the the CD/vinyl was mastered, the sound can be great or mediocre.
 
river25 said:
I haven't been an AK member for very long and I think I've seen about three or so of the "analog vs digital" threads already. I can see why longer serving members just sigh or get huffy over it being rehashed.

As per nailer, I love all my music, whether it is digital or analog, and depending upon how the the CD/vinyl was mastered, the sound can be great or mediocre.
Click to expand...

i agree with this summation, it is all in how you enjoy your music.digital or analog if you just listen to the music instead of trying to pick it apart then it really doesn't matter.

me myself personally i am going all digital simply downsizing selling my prized record albums,it is very hard thing to do but the digital i have replaced them with sounds just as good (to me anyway and thats all that counts)digital has come a long way since it's beginning's

there are enough purists out there though that records and vintage gear will keep a hearty following for a while.

but as i have said before we all congregate at AK for the same one love and that is the music. and to talk about our beloved systems.
 
I agree the recording is the most important factor in sound; analog or digital is not nearly as important. However.....

Digital has much lower noise, wider dynamic range and able to extend all the way to the frequency extremes, whereas vinyl does drop off at the fringes. Moreover, digital can be stored on a disc, on a chip or a hard drive. Analog need vinyl or tape. Tape has print through, loss of oxide, deterioration of tape binders and vinyl can warp and easily be scratched. Just on physical aspects alone (no sound quality yet) it is clear digital is better.

I am not sure what the "CD sound" is. If it is clear sound with sharp treble, deep bass and good channel separation, then I like CD sound. I have a hard time taking Meridian at its word on its new aphodising filter (good article in TAS on this) in its CD players since they discontinued CDP's. Other good high end brands don't have it and sound fabulous. But again, only with good recordings.

I suppose you can tell where I stand, but I actually stream from my computer with no issues at all. I am not even a CD guy anymore (I do like spinning them) but clearly, I am digital all the way. It is too easy to find songs I want, where they are, and once stored on a backup hard drive, much easier to move around than LPs or CDs for sure. Done right, the computer playback route is better than the CD route, sonically, and I don't know how much better it will get in 10 years but I definitely imagine it will.
 
Which format does better in RECORDING - MASTERING - DISTRIBUTION - REPRODUCTION?

From the music to your ears. The whole 9 yards.

Thoughts? :lurk:
 
Pandovski said:
Which format does better in RECORDING - MASTERING - DISTRIBUTION - REPRODUCTION?

From the music to your ears. The whole 9 yards.

Thoughts? :lurk:
Click to expand...

Digital for the aforementioned reasons. There is a reason the Smithsonian is converting all archives on tape to digital.
 
nailer said:
:yikes: another digital versus analog discussion/argument. :boring:
Click to expand...

I think the interview is very educational and speaks for it-self by those who engineer the recording and playback of music.

My intentions in starting this thread was to make other forum members aware of the interview, not to start an argument. :)
 
neither format is no better than the other.you just have bias because of a persons biased mind set and there system components.it is just the human condition of mine is better because it is mine.

this argument goes to the highest intellectual levels unfortunately.too bad they just cant see the end result is just the music.
 
Pandovski said:
Technically that is impossible. One has to be the better one.
Click to expand...

technically,it does not, only to the one that does not want it to be equal,

.digital has points and analog has points they both offset each other.digital might have a slight edge truth be told. and i like both with maybe a slight edge for digital,see my point
 
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