@amg56, your analogy with old cars is sort of interesting. It seems to me that all the electronics and software in modern cars put up a barrier between the driver and the actual driving experience. Yes, everything is much more sophisticated, but is it also more real?
Might the same be happening in audio? While the limitations of early digital were painfully obvious, I was nonetheless able to enjoy the music. But the exponential increase of digital processing power hasn't improve my listening enjoyment and it seems that the higher the bit rates, the more manipulated it sounds. It is a barrier between the music and the listener. You hear every detail, but it's just a lot of information (a 'data dump'). The musical message seems to be 'lost in translation'.
With analog audio this should be different, as the source material is untouched by digital manipulation (unless of course you buy those vinyl reissues pressed from digitalized sources). But perhaps to some extend all these computer aided tools do more harm than good in designing turntables, tonearms and cartridges as well?
It touches on the many 'thorny' questions around digital technology. I'm not a Luddite, but I don't belong to the 'technology will make everything better' crowd either. I try to be mindfully optimistic, perhaps against my better judgement. If a singularity is inevitably and we get this intelligence explosion, what will it mean for the human listening experience?
For this analog forum it might all come down to this question: what will the first AI designed turntable sound like? Will we enjoy it as much as we will enjoy 'driving' autonomous vehicles?
Might the same be happening in audio? While the limitations of early digital were painfully obvious, I was nonetheless able to enjoy the music. But the exponential increase of digital processing power hasn't improve my listening enjoyment and it seems that the higher the bit rates, the more manipulated it sounds. It is a barrier between the music and the listener. You hear every detail, but it's just a lot of information (a 'data dump'). The musical message seems to be 'lost in translation'.
With analog audio this should be different, as the source material is untouched by digital manipulation (unless of course you buy those vinyl reissues pressed from digitalized sources). But perhaps to some extend all these computer aided tools do more harm than good in designing turntables, tonearms and cartridges as well?
It touches on the many 'thorny' questions around digital technology. I'm not a Luddite, but I don't belong to the 'technology will make everything better' crowd either. I try to be mindfully optimistic, perhaps against my better judgement. If a singularity is inevitably and we get this intelligence explosion, what will it mean for the human listening experience?
For this analog forum it might all come down to this question: what will the first AI designed turntable sound like? Will we enjoy it as much as we will enjoy 'driving' autonomous vehicles?
