Popular Post tmtomh Posted January 17, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2020 Yes, I agree as well. I play mainly digital sources and generally find them superior, but I have zero trouble believing in the euphonics of vinyl (and analogue more generally). Tape his and/or vinyl surface noise definitely can add a perception of air or ambience. People complain about noise reduction making the sound dead or artificial, and it can indeed do that when overused. But I am convinced that even lightly applied, well-implemented noise reduction can produce this same perception of deadening, even if one shows that the "difference file" - the sound of just the hiss or noise that was removed - contains zero musical information. Likewise, it has been shown that narrowing the L-R channel separation of bass frequencies, as is often done for cutting vinyl, tends to increase DR Meter readings and can increase the perception of dynamics (because low frequencies have such disproportionate energy levels). And then there's what I believe is the most significant contributor to the euphonics of vinyl: L-R channel crosstalk. Vinyl crosstalk is notably worse than digital, and it's also much more variable - it increase more, and more unpredictably from LP to LP and playback system to playback system, as you go up in frequency. The result is that vinyl playback has more crosstalk, and more unpredictable crosstalk, and probably a level of crosstalk that has strong correlation with the musical material in the grooves, than digital - and this upper-frequency crosstalk greatly impacts perception of the treble tone and the soundstage/air of the upper mids and treble. I have no systematic evidence for this, but I am convinced it plays a major role in the perceived sound of vinyl that many people like so much. Myself, I have found that "digital harshness" in the midrange and treble has more or less vanished (except with intrinsically awful masterings of course) as I have improved my system - upgraded my components yes, but just as much or even moreso as I have optimized speaker placement and applied some acoustic treatments. (Bass traps are really important of course, but recently I have been surprised at how much just a single 2" thick acoustic panel placed on the front wall between the speakers can do to improve imaging in the mids and highs, presumably because it damps reflections between the speakers.) For this reason, and with this experience, I find myself getting bored or tired of the softness of most vinyl playback, including very good digital rips of vinyl, and preferring more of a straight digital experience in my system. YMMV of course - I'm discussing my own preference for digital mainly just to make it clear that when I discuss vinyl's euphonics I am not trying to backhandedly justify the superiority of vinyl. IMHO vinyl clearly has nonlinearities that can in some cases, for some people, contribute to euphonic listening. marce, Josh Mound, firedog and 2 others 5 Link to comment
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