Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Suggestions & Ideas for 2.1 w/80s...

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did you type "nice warm sound" and "cd" by mistake? has to be a typo.

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This is referring to playing through a tube head in a recording setting, for distribution on CD.

Does the sound grow cold when it's digitized? All those frigid 1s and 0s? Soooo cold... cold...

Bren R.
... cold, you guys.

Riffman,

That has to be one of the more inaccurate stereotypes in audio today. An average CD player playing a carefully mastered CD can output digital bits that will decode into the exact waveform of the original master recording (with all the inherent warmth or coldness intended by the recording engineer). Try telling me the average turntable playing a record mastered and pressed with the utmost care can output the original waveform.

I don't think it will. There is a difference between an analog continuous wave and the clocked digital output of a CDP. Haven't you heard the difference? Reconcile theory v. experience in favor of experience. Phlogiston. Lysenko.

2x6, I neglected to include a vital step.

Today's average D/A converter reverts the digital bitstream into an analog continuous wave. At that point, before it is sent along to whatever amp you happen to own, it is truer to the original source than what a turntable can outputs.

What's worse, the more times you play a vinyl album, the worst it'll sound each time. Imperceptibly at first, but it adds up.

Amen.

I really wanted to go back to the "good ol' days"... I remember good vinyl having this mystical quality unparalleled on any 8-track I'd heard.

Having not had a turntable hooked up since about 1989, my heart beat faster as I sat in front of Cubase waiting to preserve forever bro's copy of a Metallica/Pushead picture disc (total number of times played - 4), I dropped the needle and... what? No... no no no... it can't be... I captured one song, and it wasn't what I remembered. Well, okay, it's a new cheap Sony PS-LX250H, magnetic cartridge... it's the turntable. Borrowed bro's BSR, changed cartridges to a brand new one he had, same thing. Finally brought out the big guns and borrowed the audio tech's turntable, brand name I'd never even heard of before, thing wasn't just a belt or direct drive, it had a light chopper that monitored rotation speed and corrected wow/flutter on the fly. Still not what I remembered.

Much like trying to play Activision's H.E.R.O. on the Atari 2600 emulator, sometimes you can't go home again.

Bren R.

jeez. I just re-read my post. My spelling is heinous lately. But not my CD player. It's fantastic!

In reply to:

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jeez. I just re-read my post. My spelling is heinous lately.

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I hate to break it to you, but as you get older, assuming this is a universal, your spelling gets worse. I'm misspelling words now that I NEVER would have misspelled. If I didn't have this handy dandy spell checker, my posts would look like the Axiom web page when translated into "Elmer Fudd."

Weww, thew's nothing wong with thawt!

Great thread!!

Thanks for starting it brotherbob.

"That has to be one of the more inaccurate stereotypes in audio today. An average CD player playing a carefully mastered CD can output digital bits that will decode into the exact waveform of the original master recording (with all the inherent warmth or coldness intended by the recording engineer). Try telling me the average turntable playing a record mastered and pressed with the utmost care can output the original waveform."

OK, I will. That's nice information and I appreciate it from a learning standpoint but listening has nothing to do with waveforms. Basically all but a very few lps outperform my cds/SACDs for which I have copies in both formats. And, about 20 people I know agree with me - most of them don't have turntables. Besides, most recording folks, esp in rock, are disgusted at how their music comes across on cd. If people spent more time listening to the actual bands/producers/engineers instead of scientists, more people would be aware instead lps remain a niche market, enjoyed by musicians, engineers, poor students, and audiophiles.