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From: pmr@drutx.UUCP (Rastocny)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: zen and the art...LP vs CD
Message-ID: <2922@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 31-May-85 20:18:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: drutx.2922
Posted: Fri May 31 20:18:10 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Jun-85 03:36:40 EDT
References: <1259@houxm.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 67

[]

I agree with C Dory (and many others) in that LPs are a dying medium.  And that
more emphasis should be placed on making CDs sound more accurate than flaming
back and forth about my CD player is more accurate than your analog nail or
vice versa.  But some folks don`t agree.  They feel that the CD is the best
sound possible today.  But this is just not true.  For some reason, processing
or whatever, state-of-the-art (SOTA) in each field, analog still sounds more
like the instrument than its digital counterpart (note that we're not comparing
apples to apples since the noise floor is different, analog being worse).  So
let's concentrate on making digital more musical.

I have heard many differences between CD playback systems from day one of their
introduction.  I stopped listening to them since no significant circuit
topologies existed until recently.  However, there are a few SOTA CD players
that now begin to sound like music.  These are the Nakamichis, the Meridian,
and the Mission (I haven't heard the NAD).  Others on the net have stated that
they hear no differences and still others side with my statement.  So what makes
these players different and why do people have different views about CD sound?

I feel that there are three parts to this problem:

1) people don't know what instruments sound like

2) people are two egocentric about their playback systems (whatever type it may
   be, analog or digital, low-end or high-end) to be honest about the system`s
   ability to accurately reproduce music.

3) people (scientists included, or are they not people?) make rash statements
   before understanding both sides of a problem

There isn't much one can do about problem #1 except go to concerts and memorize
the intricacies of each instrument, one at a time.  

Problem #2 attacts a soft spot of the ego regardless of the price of the
system.  Learning to be honest is more difficult than learning to recognize an
instrument's subtleties.  For example, when was the last time you told your
spouse/friend/significant other that the meal was rotten?  And when was the last
time you admitted to yourself that your system stinks and that there are others
that sound much more accurate (note that I did not use the word "better")?

Problem #3 is characteristic of impatient homo sapiens.  Learning to deal with
this problem is no less difficult than the above two problems.


I feel that all of the opinions stated about the pros and cons of
digital/analog are senseless.  The move should be to improve the SOTA as my
closing has always stated.  I know in my heart that some day digital will
sound more accurate than analog.  Personally, I can hardly wait.

Analog has one thing going for it: it's been around for a while and, just as
with any piece of electrical or mechanical equipment, it's had time gets the
bugs out.  The bugs that still remain (wear, noise, dynamic range) cannot be
removed with current manufacturing methods.  Once digital matures and its
inherent bugs are worked out, it too should sound musical.

I don't enjoy treating the fragile analog medium with kid gloves,
but the most musical signal sources are still in this medium.  So until the
Nth-generation CD player with 8x or 16x oversampling, and a digital or single-
pole or whatever filter is developed, until engineers have had time to
understand and take advantage of the potential of the digital medium, I'll
just have slowly wear my analog discs out with my esoteric nail and wait.

		Yours for higher fidelity,
		Phil Rastocny
		AT&T-ISL
		ihnp4!drutx!pmr