The Science of Vinyl/Analog Setups


It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why vinyl/analog setups sound the way they do. When I see discussions on tables, cartridges, tonearms and even phono cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like isolation, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things discussed like wow, rumble, resonance, compliance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t vinyl/analog setups discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivists” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in vinyl/analog setups. 

I know vinyl/analog setups are often system-dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
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Showing 1 response by iopscrl

Digital is like looking at the world through the tines of a comb, or in strobascopic light.

Vinyl and Analogue are like looking at the world as it is, in continuous non stop light.

One can reduce the size of each tine to bring in more light, one can increase the flash rate of the strobe, but what you see will never quite be what is available to see.

Digital is a parabolic curve that approaches but never quite touches the horizontal line of analogue.

That said, there are trade offs for analogue and digital that should be examined by the curious.