The original digital studio masters probably sound very good, possibly even wonderful.
When an original high bit rate digital master is converted directly to analog, the LP format renders the data very well. When that same digital master is mixed so far down to meet the 21 year old Redbook standard, a good bit of the data is lost.
The same principal applies to digital photography. Super high bit digital captures (originals) and super high quality conversions from analog (film) are almost equal at preservation of the original quality.
As an example (photographically), a perfect digital transfer from a single frame of a Hasselblad (medium format camera) requires a scan of about 500 MB. Making a single analog frame occupy much of the data space on a CDR.
If a digital format were offered that preserved 100% of the original digital material, analog fans may view digital as equal to analog.
This probably would require a format of greater capacity than the current CD or even the SACD. Perhaps a dual layer DVD.
Unfortunately there is no incentive for record companies to offer that quality when so many of today's listeners are satisfied with MP3.
When an original high bit rate digital master is converted directly to analog, the LP format renders the data very well. When that same digital master is mixed so far down to meet the 21 year old Redbook standard, a good bit of the data is lost.
The same principal applies to digital photography. Super high bit digital captures (originals) and super high quality conversions from analog (film) are almost equal at preservation of the original quality.
As an example (photographically), a perfect digital transfer from a single frame of a Hasselblad (medium format camera) requires a scan of about 500 MB. Making a single analog frame occupy much of the data space on a CDR.
If a digital format were offered that preserved 100% of the original digital material, analog fans may view digital as equal to analog.
This probably would require a format of greater capacity than the current CD or even the SACD. Perhaps a dual layer DVD.
Unfortunately there is no incentive for record companies to offer that quality when so many of today's listeners are satisfied with MP3.