Good analog and good digital converge?

[struth]

Playing back the words is only part of the issue. It's like an audio book. One reader is much better at involving you than another even if he was pitch perfect

[Macca]

You don't get many problems with system induced noise and distortion on a text file either. I mean you are not listening to it. It's in no way comparable.

[struth]

Other things like super tweeters that we shouldn't hear and can't affect anything. But they do. It's a bit of a black art getting it all bang on

[magiccarpetride]

You don't get many problems with system induced noise and distortion on a text file either. I mean you are not listening to it. It's in no way comparable.

I could get my computer to read back the text I entered and stored. It will work flawlessly. It will not, under any regular circumstances, read the words I typed out of order, or add any other words or remove any words. Because the signal is simple.

[Macca]

I could get my computer to read back the text I entered and stored. It will work flawlessly. It will not, under any regular circumstances, read the words I typed out of order, or add any other words or remove any words. Because the signal is simple.

Through your crappy laptop amp and speakers? Or through your main system? Would it sound to you identical on both? I'm guessing not.

[Clive]

I could get my computer to read back the text I entered and stored. It will work flawlessly. It will not, under any regular circumstances, read the words I typed out of order, or add any other words or remove any words. Because the signal is simple.

But but but..... What you hear bears little relation to what you typed or dicated, you'd need a recording for that. Yes the same words but thats all. Not the same sounds, if indeed there were any sounds in the first place.

[magiccarpetride]

But but but..... What you hear bears little relation to what you typed or dicated, you'd need a recording for that. Yes the same words but thats all. Not the same sounds, if indeed there were any sounds in the first place.

That is precisely the point. A simple signal is just a string of words. Such simplicity cannot easily result in messed up rendering. So if the sound recording is a simple signal, how come it ends up with all kinds of variations in rendering?

[Clive]

That is precisely the point. A simple signal is just a string of words. Such simplicity cannot easily result in messed up rendering. So if the sound recording is a simple signal, how come it ends up with all kinds of variations in rendering?

Again....for temporal reasons. Bit perfect isn't sufficient.

[alphaGT]

If there was a studio in the next room, and wires directly from the mic preamps came directly into your room and into your stereo, would you be able to tell if it was live or recorded? Maybe? Maybe not? “Is it live, or is it Memorex?”, was the old commercials, doing that exact test. Ella would sing a high C and break a wine glass, and the tape would do the same! Not necessarily proving it sounds good? I’ve got a Screaming for Vengeance remaster that if you told me the wires came live from the studio next door, I’d believe you! It’s just like setting in the studio, as many here have done. But it’s all amplified music, except the vocals of course, and there are vocals on that album! Vinyl, of course.

But it is easy to see on a scope that the signal coming out does not match the signal going in. Harmonic distortions, crossover distortions, etc., etc., and then there is Digital. You take the waveform and chop it into tens of thousands of pieces, and assign a number to it. Then taking those numbers, try to put it back together. And like dragging a rock around in a groove, it really is amazing that it works at all! And doesn’t sound like a squealing siren. So, you stitch the square waves back together and it looks like stair cases going up and down, so a filter smooths the edges off until it resembles an analog waveform. You’ve got a nice smooth waveform that sounds great! But, it is not an exact match of the signal that went in. Due to averaging, it’s a very close approximation, but not exact.

The thing about our flawed ears, is that we use the same pair for most of our lives. So however weird the sound is once it reaches the brain, it’s what we are used to hearing. So a violin sounds like a violin, and a trumpet sounds like a trumpet.

Russell

[struth]

If there was a studio in the next room, and wires directly from the mic preamps came directly into your room and into your stereo, would you be able to tell if it was live or recorded? Maybe? Maybe not? “Is it live, or is it Memorex?”, was the old commercials, doing that exact test. Ella would sing a high C and break a wine glass, and the tape would do the same! Not necessarily proving it sounds good? I’ve got a Screaming for Vengeance remaster that if you told me the wires came live from the studio next door, I’d believe you! It’s just like setting in the studio, as many here have done. But it’s all amplified music, except the vocals of course, and there are vocals on that album! Vinyl, of course.

But it is easy to see on a scope that the signal coming out does not match the signal going in. Harmonic distortions, crossover distortions, etc., etc., and then there is Digital. You take the waveform and chop it into tens of thousands of pieces, and assign a number to it. Then taking those numbers, try to put it back together. And like dragging a rock around in a groove, it really is amazing that it works at all! And doesn’t sound like a squealing siren. So, you stitch the square waves back together and it looks like stair cases going up and down, so a filter smooths the edges off until it resembles an analog waveform. You’ve got a nice smooth waveform that sounds great! But, it is not an exact match of the signal that went in. Due to averaging, it’s a very close approximation, but not exact.

The thing about our flawed ears, is that we use the same pair for most of our lives. So however weird the sound is once it reaches the brain, it’s what we are used to hearing. So a violin sounds like a violin, and a trumpet sounds like a trumpet.

Russell

One's ears are not an oscilloscope fortunately.