Vinyl: sucking even more today than yesterday

[jeffca]

I figured I'd add more gasoline to the flame.

 

First off, I have two fantastic turntables. Both of them have been retired since I transcribed all of my rare vinyl to 24/88.2 digital about 5 years ago.

 

Secondly, it's not that I have poor quality vinyl, it's that I've had very good digital for a very long time.

 

Lastly, a properly rezzed down 16/44.1 track will sound almost exactly like a 24/88.2 track. The differences are vanishingly small.

 

So, let's count off just a few ways that digital is superior:

1) Sound to noise ratio: digital - 90db or better • vinyl - 65db at best

2) Frequency response: digital - ruler flat from below 20hz to at least 20khz, worst case • vinyl - maybe plus or minus 1db, 20-20k, best case for any rig under a thousand bucks (I'm sure that there are some super tweaked rigs in the $10,000 plus range that can do a little better)

3) Immunity to vibration: do I even need to go here?

4) Phase and transient response: digital - almost perfect • vinyl - average at best

5) Durability: digital - with proper archiving, infinite • vinyl - like a favorite shirt going through the wash, it only gets worse with every cycle

 

I'm not against analog. It's just that vinyl is an obsolete technology and no amount of gold paint will stop that turd from smelling bad and keep it from looking like a piece o'crap.

 

jeff

(my next subject will be tube vs. solid state!)

 

[PeterSt]

yeah yeah, rant away ! hehe

 

I'm not sure why to put this in another new thead (but don't care anyway) but ...

 

Both of them have been retired since I transcribed all of my rare vinyl to 24/88.2 digital about 5 years ago.

 

Now I hope you don't make your observations with just those albums ... (and then merely referring to the other thread).

 

They would only sound WORSE in their digital representatives, right ?

Not counting a zillion times of playing either of course ...

 

Peter

 

[jeffca]

Hi, Peter.

 

Yes, running the the vinyl into the computer wouldn't improve the sound, but then I was using a DBX Quantum II dynamics processor. Don't know if you ever heard one of them, but its converters are pristine so what ever non-linearities it introduced were quite small. I also used the Quantum as a front end for recording vocals and guitar so I could hear how transparent it is.

 

I didn't stop, though, at just bringing it into my PowerMac. In Peak, I'd reduce rumble by summing bass below 100hz to mono (a lot of phono rumble is out of phase info). After that, I'd run the file out through the Quantum to give it some gentle downward and upward expansion (basically a digital version of the old DBX 5BX - and I have one of those). And, of course, any bad impulse noises would be dealt with in Peak.

 

Basically, I did my best to undo the damage done in mastering, pressing and playing the disc.

 

The final result was more enjoyable to listen to than the original.

 

jeff