It wasn't a Korg by any chance, as I was planning on going down the same path, and I am waiting for one to arrive. I hope it's not another minefield of deciding what Hz to use etc.
LP Playback: Is It Really Reference-Quality?
- Thread starter mjw
- Start date
It wasn't a Korg by any chance, as I was planning on going down the same path, and I am waiting for one to arrive. I hope it's not another minefield of deciding what Hz to use etc.
How can it do that? If it adds an inverse distortion to cancel the inherent distortion it will only work with the arm length and stylus profile for which the compensation was calculated.
Otherwise the distortion is inherent.
There are certain facts which limit how accurate an LP can be then there are opinions about what sounds nice. An LP can never sound that close to the analog tape used to produce it because of the limits and compromises needed to manufacture the LP itself.
The analogue tape will, in any case, rarely sound like the microphone feed (it never has on the sort of music I record) since any music with higher intensity of high frequencies won't be able to be recorded on the tape, and low frequencies will be uneven due to the physical shape of the tape head.
So an LP starts off as not being an accurate reproduction of the microphone feed anyway.
So even if you spend a gazillion pounds on a perfect record player perfectly set up you can not possibly get the sound that was picked up by the microphone at home - the process is incapable of doing it.
OTOH the reduction of level at high frequencies makes a more mellow sound, the monoing of the deep bass needed to cut a continuous groove gives amp and speakers an easier time without loss of stereo effect, so less likely for a lower power system to clip, so these compromises will sound nicer to some tastes and/or suit some systems better.
Maybe a lot of people find the exact sound picked up by the microphones to be too close?
Personally I enjoy my LPs, and am satisfied that I can set up my record player pretty well after almost 50 years of experience using and designing the things. I listen to and enjoy LPs and CDs and despite the above some of my LPs sound fabulous, as do many of my CDs.
Julf
Facts are our friends
Are they wrong?
Not necessarily, but he doesn't elaborate on the effect of those shortcomings, or provide any detail as to what extent they degrade the original recording. I just find it a very lazy piece of work that is purely based on one man and his obviously very opinionated views.
Don't get me wrong, I accept digital and of course, master tapes - in good condition - are more accurate.
Vinyl is a heavily flawed medium, but I just prefer the sound of a well implemented vinyl system. I really don't care how close it is to the master tape if it gives me enjoyment. And, it does.
merlin
Avatar changed - Town names deemed offensive.
I use a Tascam DA3000 for recording and playback. Superb IME.
Haha, yes.
Julf
Facts are our friends
All valid points.
Rockmeister
pfm Member
Are they right, in your opinion?
Jonathan Ribee
Unavailable at present
Maybe one day we'll have enough bandwidth to transmit all the channel information and you can mix it yourself. Or apply a favourite 'style' like the photo apps that make everything look like a Daguerreotype or an early polaroid. You could have a late 50s Impulse setting, a Contemporary setting (a la Way Out West) - imagine a big band valve microphone amplifier setting applied to Madonna's Frozen or some of the more challenging Autechre - or The Fall. Enter the sandman optimised as per a Scott Joplin rag or slow drag. Or an Aphex Twin Beethoven.
Whole new paradigm.
Whole new paradigm.
He may well be more knowledgeable then most of us because of his work, voicing people's music set ups. His opinions have some validity as a result.
Possibly, but just because he does it for a living, doesn't necessarily make his opinions unimpeachable.
Thanks, I heard DSD playback for the first time at the Indulgence Show on an Astell & Kern machine and was impressed. When I looked into buying DSD music it seems to be mainly classical. This made me decide to make my own files from my Grand Prix Monaco turntable. The Korg A/D converter has to be used with a computer, so the quality may not be up to your Tascam.
Pine Marten
pfm Member
The method of recording and playing back sound by cutting or incising a groove in a medium such as wax or plastic has been around now for 140 years. The fact that it can and does sound spellbinding, given half decent gear is nothing short of magic! We are talking of basically an electrically assisted mechanical means of recording and replay at the end of the day. It may still not be perfect, it probably never will be, but it bloody well works! And remarkably well!
Pine Marten
pfm Member
That would be my beloved HMV 102 circa 1922, and my assortment of mechanically/ acoustic records, which though lacking any bass, somewhat limited dynamics and obvious tonal humps and dips, at least benefit from being a genuine recording of the performance, live, in one take, with no buggering about with in "post production"!
Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
^^^
Last three posts nail it.
I've been fascinated with the whole thing for 60+ years.
It just works.
Mull
Last three posts nail it.
I've been fascinated with the whole thing for 60+ years.
It just works.
Mull
Ayya Khema
pfm Member
the guy simply state some truths about vinyl drawbacks, but he should then make a list of all the drawbacks and problems of digital.
to my ears, analog playback is still king, quite a far bit better then any DAC ive had or heard.
to my ears, analog playback is still king, quite a far bit better then any DAC ive had or heard.
Such as?
The fact is - of course - that you can easily make an indistinguishable digital copy of the vinyl sound. The other way around would never work.