2. analog
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Is Digital actually better than Analog?

I just purchased an Esoteric DV-50s. The unit is fantastic in the sense that you can hear every detail very clearly in most recordings. Here is the thing, does it make for an enjoyable musical expereince? With this type of equipment, you can actually tell who can actually sing and who can really play. Some artist who I have really enjoyed in the past come across as, how shall I put it, not as talented. This causes almost a loss of enjoyment in the music.
Which comes to my Vinyl curiousity. I dont own a single record, but I have been curious why so many have kept the LP's (and tubes for that matter) alive for so long after the digital revolution and now I am thinking it is probably has to do with LP's being more laid back and maybe even more musical. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Would someone recommend going back to Analog. I was thinking of getting a entry level player like a Scout Master.
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seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
"Digital is a broken stairstep; analog is a continuous curve.
Digital samples at a finite rate; analog, if you will, is infinite sampling."

Posts like these serve only to highlight that the poster knows nothing about the theory and implementation of sampling of signals, quantization noise, digital signal processing ... the list goes on. This is the reason why it's almost impossible to have a straightforward discussion of digital vs analog on a hifi board.
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,111 posts
 
Sean, it seems to me that Ncarv knows the theory very well. Everything he said is true! Proponants of digital have been fighting against these basic design flaws for over 25 years. They are getting a handle on the design flaws and digital sounds much better today than it ever did, but it's hard to ignore the OBVIOUS FLAWS of the format!

But, we certainly don't want to resort to facts while we perpetuate this tired debate!
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Nrchy, you are wrong. Digital is only a broken stairstep if you ignore low pass and in particular sin(x)/x filters. Analog no more has infinite sampling or quantization than digital does, as it too is limited by its medium, which imposes a limitation on bandwidth, dynamic range, and signal to noise ratio. Only in bandwidth is analog even theoretically superior to digital.

This article is an interesting examination of how the size of the vinyl molecules means that LPs are actually quantized in a similar way to digital audio.

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~jcgl/Scots_Guide/iandm/part12/page2.html
tarsando
578 posts
 
But, re analogue waveforms and analogue wiggles in groves...music isn't plastic, music doesn't go round at 33 and a third etc. The argument for analogue from analogy isn't convincing. It's not hard (it's certainly not a logical impossibility) to think of a totally digital system that is better than anything we have heard yet. And who's to say that 100 years from now the best music reproduction system won't be some technology that we don't even know about now?
petland
71 posts
 
everything said is accurate. Analog is more work. both can be very satisfying. In my mind great analog is far more convincing of acousitic space and the textures of that space. the best digital creates a different sense of space, somtimes more grand, but still dryer and less colorful than the best analog.
I think part of your post has more to do with the double edge sword of increasing resolution. I have found that climbing the resolution ladder on the digital side of the fence is far more unpredictable and potentially fatiguing than the same efforts in analog. High res digital really demands that you have your system in good order, especially the current generation of hyper detailed digitial sources.
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