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From: spoo@utcsrgv.UUCP (Suk Lee)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: High Quality Recordings
Message-ID: <3037@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Jan-84 12:54:42 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.3037
Posted: Thu Jan  5 12:54:42 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jan-84 13:31:13 EST
References: <355@whuxk.UUCP>
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 58

As has already been pointed out, Sax
and Mayorga were touting the "below
noise" performance of analog systems
versus the "below zero" performance
of digital systems, but without
considering *DITHERED* digital system.

I hope everybody out there on the net
realizes that with dither, digital 
systems can recover information below
zero.  The function of dither is to
remove the correlation between the
signal and the quantization noise.  The
resulting quantization noise looks like
uniform white noise.  

Another point to consider is the nasty
modulation noise encountered in analog
recording:  it too is correlated noise
as is quantization noise.

Second to last comment:
  Sax commented on the "Phase shift on
the high end is unprecendentedly large
compared to analog tape recording."
True, but it is a smooth phase shift,
there are phase anomalies all over
recording systems, and (here we go)
at high frequencies, phase shift
simply is not significant.  At high 
frequencies there is absolutely no
mechanism for detecting phase shifts
within the auditory system.  At lower
frequencies (those with wavelengths
larger than approx. the size of your
head), phase shift becomes important,
but certainly not at 10 kHz.

One final comment:
  At the expense of seeming cynical,
I would point out that certain people
in the music industry have a high 
investment in analog systems, and are
less than impartial when debating the
subject.  I think the worst example
of this is the stance Ivor Tiefenbrun
is taking (Linn Products).
His rabid anti-digital ravings show
that someone who has been "in the
field" for some time will not 
be necessarily more well informed than
anyone else.

From the pooped paws of:
Suk Lee
..!(decvax,linus,allegra)!utzoo!utcsrgv!spoo

No nasty letters!