> I used to think that way too... Until I heard a really good vinyl playback
> system.
>
> Vinyl can definitely equal (or surpass) CD in some ways, but it takes a
> pretty high-end system to get to that point, along with the right vinyl.
Strictly material dependent and how the recording engineer miked it.
When I'm recording a band using my Yamaha AW4416, I tend to always
track at 48kHz sample rate and not 44kHz sample rate. Rarely do I
actually use 24 bit on it because I record hot and level things up to
minimize noise issues. I will use 24 bit for a restoration project and
will even go to 96kHz sample rate on rare occasions. However, if I'm
doing a turn and burn, I'll just record it straight at 44 kHz so I
don't have to resample an entire hour's worth of material. For simple
two-track restorative work, I'll whip it directly into the computer,
do a bunch of bit-bending right in an editor and output it to the
desired format there and never hit the Yammy.
But to you point, I was part of a team from the BBC, NPR, WGBH and
several equipment manufacturers that did controlled testing and AD/DA
converter development work to test and learn what made analog superior
to digital. In the '90s, we all knew that under certain circumstances,
analog was FAR and away better. Not even a question in that regard.
Our project was to identify and quantify what it was that made it
better. For these tests, I brought with me hundreds of thousands of
dollars in audio test gear, digital editors (including prototype stuff
that was still years away production, and developmental AD/DA
converters that required everybody involved to sign our lives away to
secrecy. Another person brought with them an analog mixer that had
been hand built and hot-rodded by the man himself. To this day, that
mixer was transparent at least two octaves above ANY digital mixer,
processor or editor.
Anyway, as a result, we figured out the two issues involved and worked
to develop a new AD oversampling scheme that largely addressed one of
the issues. The other issue was never directly resolved but pointed to
inherent problems with miking techniques. What was good for a pure
analog system benefited from one technique, was was good for a digital
system benefited from another technique. I then worked with one of the
manufacturers to develop sound placement and room simulation
algorithms which was then licensed across the industry and
incorporated into just about everything in audio production. One of my
claims to fame that I can't actually tell anybody about.
So, yes, vinyl can sound better if EVERYTHING is perfectly optimized
for it, but that's a mighty big "if". But you also need to have
everything pure analog and a whole lot of tubes in there to do it.
AG Ears.
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