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Thread: Describe differences in LP playback vs CD playback

  1. #301
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Vancouver, Canada

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    I'm Alex.

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    Quote Originally Posted by alphaGT View Post
    Took me a while to catch up on the last 15 pages of this thread! And I swoop in and try to make a few words on all that's been said.

    Yes, my most recent LP and CD setups are more alike than they have been in the past, but now it's apples and pears, instead of apples and oranges. Still not the same. It's very strange, my experience is that if I play anyone who stepped into the room a song on vinyl and the same song on CD, everyone, including myself, would declare the CD was far better! But it's only after extended listening that the CD becomes less involving. And the vinyl becomes more and more compelling to pick the next album, and continue. I cannot explain this. It just is.

    The difference between digital and analog is that true analog is a reflection of the actual event, like the fossil, it is an actual imprint of what happened, every nuance and harmonic preserved. While digital chops it all into pieces, and puts it back together. And to cover up the distortion of the staircase steps, it has averaging filters that smooth those steps off, making the waveform round again, simulating the analog, but is not. It is a close approximation of analog. But much of the detail we hear never happened, it was created in the smoothing of the jagged steps. Of course this is all academic, as both vinyl and digital are made from digital masters now days.

    Perhaps some of the differences we hear, or don't hear when comparing 24 bit, to 16 bit, depends on the resolution of the original material? Just because we are making a new copy of old analog tape with a 24 bit system doesn't mean there is sufficient resolution in the original to make use of the extra resolution of the extra 8 bits. Analog recordings do not have infinite resolution. The density of the magnetic tape, number of times it was bounced down, so many things could reduce its original resolution from the mic feed. This could explain the reason some remasters sound better on 24/96 downloads and others do not? It's got to be there in the first place to hear the difference. And maybe even why some songs sound just fine on MP3?.

    But back to the original post, I will bring up an analogy I've used before on this forum, if you went to 5 different members homes, and listened to their systems, each would sound vastly different, while assuming all would sound great! These differences are far greater than the difference between LP and CD playback on the same system. Would anyone disagree?


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    While I agree that everyone's system sounds discernibly different, I still think that analog systems, across the board, have their own sonic signature which is shared between them. This sonic signature is unmistakeable, and easy to discern. Same, of course, goes for digital systems. (same also goes for tube vs solid state amplification)

    My experiences differ from yours. I've repeatedly witnessed how people get swept away by a good analog sound, and often exclaim how that LP sounds more present, more natural than the digitized version.

    But then, if I play the digital version right after the LP track has finished, nine out of ten times people change their minds and say how they were wrong, and how the digital actual beats LP. Interesting...

    I personally find digital to be more convincing on a quick switch, the immediate listen. Somehow the details in digital playback seem harsher, giving off the impression that it is more precise, more 'there'. In comparison, LPs sound laid back, effortless, not even trying.

    But those impressions are usually deceptive. On repeat listening it gradually becomes clear how superior LPs actually sound. To me, the difference is like kissing a girl with full bodied lips that have been botoxed vs kissing a girl with naturally plump lips. Yes, maybe the botoxed girl has larger, more plump, more juicy lips, but the finer details in the sensation one gets when kissing naturally plump lips is much more subtle, and much more deeply satisfying.

    And no, I'm not going to now go to the second base analogies
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  2. #302
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Central Virginia

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    I'm Russell.

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    Quote Originally Posted by magiccarpetride View Post
    While I agree that everyone's system sounds discernibly different, I still think that analog systems, across the board, have their own sonic signature which is shared between them. This sonic signature is unmistakeable, and easy to discern. Same, of course, goes for digital systems. (same also goes for tube vs solid state amplification)

    My experiences differ from yours. I've repeatedly witnessed how people get swept away by a good analog sound, and often exclaim how that LP sounds more present, more natural than the digitized version.

    But then, if I play the digital version right after the LP track has finished, nine out of ten times people change their minds and say how they were wrong, and how the digital actual beats LP. Interesting...

    I personally find digital to be more convincing on a quick switch, the immediate listen. Somehow the details in digital playback seem harsher, giving off the impression that it is more precise, more 'there'. In comparison, LPs sound laid back, effortless, not even trying.

    But those impressions are usually deceptive. On repeat listening it gradually becomes clear how superior LPs actually sound. To me, the difference is like kissing a girl with full bodied lips that have been botoxed vs kissing a girl with naturally plump lips. Yes, maybe the botoxed girl has larger, more plump, more juicy lips, but the finer details in the sensation one gets when kissing naturally plump lips is much more subtle, and much more deeply satisfying.

    And no, I'm not going to now go to the second base analogies
    Yes I will say that my experience is just the differences between my analog and digital setups, strangely, with used prices I've got more in my analog setup, but new prices my digital cost more, so they are not an even distribution of money. I'm shopping for a new LOMC that may tip the tables again?

    If we took a digital recorder and a single large diaphragm studio mic, and went to each of those 5 member's homes, and recorded from the listening seat either the digital or analog system in play, and then came home and played them back, I doubt without knowing you could tell which were digital and which were analog from that recording. The differences in the sounds of their systems would be far too great to make any comparison. But if you only heard the recording of both analog and digital from a single system, you may be able to detect the properties of each.

    But I like the analogy of kissing full lipped women, I think we need more research into this. And possibly add some wine to the study? For lubrication, of course.


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  3. #303
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Vancouver, Canada

    Posts: 2,166
    I'm Alex.

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    Quote Originally Posted by alphaGT View Post
    But I like the analogy of kissing full lipped women, I think we need more research into this. And possibly add some wine to the study? For lubrication, of course.
    OK, I feel a strong urge now to enlarge and embellish on the analogy, but my lips remain sealed!
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  4. #304
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: Switerland

    Posts: 1,199
    I'm rupert.

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    Quote Originally Posted by magiccarpetride View Post
    No, wrong slang.

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