Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Help me build a music server!

You should have you're itouch and ipod and ipad all hooked up with plenum cable for better base.

I think there's a web sight for that.

You jest but...

I would love to let all of you Axiomites hear my vinyl playback system. You would be impressed with the sonic lushness and depth that can be achieved with the proper equipment playing a well maintained record.

Most of my vinyl collection is in very good condition. I always clean each record before it is played and spend more on stylus/cartridges in a year than most have in a lifetime.

I have some 180 gram vinyl of Blue Note jazz recordings that sh#t all over the cd reissues as far as sonic quality goes.

Just because cds have technically better specs than the limited frequency range and limitations/anomalies/distortions that records have does not mean that they sound "better".

I've found that people who dismiss vinyl playback as inferior either do not own a quality turntable/phono stage or have never heard (or have forgotten) how great records can actually sound on great equipment!

(note: Yes, I'm aware of Alan Loftt's recent blasphemous article concerning vinyl vs. cds, and I will be addressing that subject soon... That's a whole thread topic of it's own right there!)




Why wouldn't I use the largest bit depth to capture (and believe me, it will be done as professionally as you can do it) the records?

16 bits would be too much of a compromise, although you are probably right about the frequency sampling rate. That's why I wouldn't bother with a sampling rate of 192k!

But make no mistake, analog's (even vinyl!) resolution is infinite compared to digital. Yes there is noise and distortions but, a lot of analog's distortions are desirable ones.

That's why most of us audio engineers are still trying to replicate the lushness and distortions/limitations that analog brings to the table. Witness all the software that emulates the harmonic distortions/sounds of tape saturation and tubes. If digital was already perfect for music/audio we would have stopped at 16 bits because, technically, it has better specs than analog. But as you are probably aware, there is almost no one recording today (digitally) that accepts just the sounds of ones and zeros. We use many tricks and software/equipment to replicate analog recording.

And guess what? The majority of audio professionals agree that digital is still not quite there yet. It's getting close though, but it has a way to go to capture all that yummy, tape based goodness that we all know and love...

But then again, I'm also one of those people that believes that all amplifiers are not equal!

When I start archiving my lps I will post some clips of records vs. their cd versions so we can all hear what I'm talking about.

The difference is quite revelatory!

And btw, I'm only going to "digitize" my record collection for the convenience and ability to play them in a music server system.

That and to save those precious grooves from the effects of time and wear...

Oops.. I did mistakingly say 192k, I meant 96k!

(great, now I'm arguing with myself on the intertubes... )

Thanks Chris and rneil for the streaming primer. I actually think I finally get it. (And how embarrassing too; but that's often the way it feels when the light shines.)

And on a lesser note, thank you pmbuko. I've been going out of my way to always say "iTouch" - just because it drive mac-o-philes nuts. It had been losing its allure; but now I'm re-energized!

Well played, Cork.

uWant aPiece oMe?

Do this. When you post them, give no indication of which is the CD rip, and which is from vinyl. Post pairs of wave (or FLAC) files, sometimes with 'A' being the CD, and other times the 'B' file. Flip a coin to pick which one gets named that way for each set.

The only problem with that Chris is that it will be obvious which is vinyl and which is cd! You, of all people should know that!

Or are you just pulling my leg?

I'm not trying to do a double blind test and fool anyone...

But I do think the difference will be in the quality and listen-ability of music that was originally released on vinyl vs. the re-released cd version. So this "demonstration" would be basically for older music recorded, mixed and mastered on analog tape.

Newer releases are generally done on a DAW and are digital from the beginning. So even if it's released on vinyl, most current music hits the digital world at some point earlier in the process.

Exceptions are the purist, niche labels/artists that will record and mix to tape, master in the analog domain and press to vinyl.

I would just like to post how much better (in sonic terms) the original vinyl sounds compared to the cd release of the same album.

btw Chris, do you know anything about the XLD software?

If so, how does it compare to EAC as far as making a quality rip? I realize that EAC uses a database to compare files with for consistency and XLD does not.

But I'm liking it for Mac so far!

Also found out about this. Gonna check it out. It seems intriguing...

Plex

Anyone ever tried this?

No, I don't think that's a valid test. A valid test would be of an album on vinyl and an album on CD, with the volume normalized. No remastering. Does such a thing exist? Is it possible?