Yep !!
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Mmm.. I've highlighted the only bit that I agree with.
The rest of it, IMO, either misses the point or doesn't actually explain what's happening, is rather simplistic thinking, or doesn't reflect my experience. Vinyl is most certainly not bad, at least not where it counts most, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make such sensational sounds with my turntable at NEBO, raved about by everyone who heard it, nor at Scalford, where you raved about it with the Celestion 66s on the end!;)
Marco.
Indeed. As Mark E Smith explained in an interview:
“No. The whole point of the thing is that it’s rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what people seem to forget.” He looks at me accusingly. “Working with American producers on the new album was very interesting, because they get a sound that makes people listen to the songs. It’s like a subliminal tone.”
What are you on about?
“Take a heavy metal hit - the song’s crap, what the guy’s saying is shit, what the group is playing is rudimentary heavy metal crap, but what they do is put a little thing in the middle of the sound, like a little click, so you can’t forget it. It used to be illegal. The Ministry of Defence invented it.”
Are you making this up?
The poker face relaxes into a smile.
“No, I’m not making it up. Why do you think people buy Def Leppard records then? They’re from your way aren’t they?”
I've used them a lot. They're indispensable with small children in the house. When we lived in a flat in That London, the mad Austrian woman across the way used to play opera at insanely loud levels all hours of the day and night. She should have invested in some headphones.
From my stance Marco's expenditure on decks is very high; I think that the speaker end is the most important. I've never really been happy with my Linn, and was in the 90s very happy with my Garrard Zero 100SB, with a G900SE.
Regarding luck, I have trouble with the concept itself. To me in life we have happenstance opportunities occur, and we have to be prepared to take them as they do, but much in the way of disadvantage can be imposed on us from outside by external events.
You can disagree with me, if you like. I think that if you apply a very small amount of dither (which you call random noise) most people won't hear it at all. Subjectively I think it reduces the apparent volume level of the music very slightly and make the signal sound smoother. If more is applied - without going wild and making it audible - it may appear to reduce the dynamics a fair bit. The type of "random" noise applied should make a difference, but if only small amounts are used it may not make too much difference what kind of noise is used.
If my hunch is correct (which it may not be) a plausible reason for this is that the brain/ear detects the low level noise, and uses that as a level with which to compare the wanted signal. Apply more of this low level noise, and the signal will appear quieter as the gap between it and the noise floor reduces. As the noise is wide spectrum it is not immediately perceived as distinct, though if overdone and played for a long while I'd expect it to become tiring.
A fair bit of speculation here, but there it is ....
The alleged technical superiority of CD is an interesting point as, if you make the right measurements, which are actually more relevant to the levels generally recorded onto CD or vinyl , it is quite possible to obtain distortion measurements from CD that are far worse than vinyl. I’ve done it myself and it’s quite an eye-opener!
As an aside on Amstrad midi systems, the CD mechanisms in some of the early units were actually almost complete Philips CD players squeezed into an Amstrad box, so weren’t that bad! The less said about the rest of the units, the better, however...
Interesting... Could you elaborate on the above? You may even show some graphs to illustrate your point!;)
If that's the case, then their quality wasn't preserved by anything else downstream, thus instead diluted to the point of being unrecognisable, such was the shocking noise that eventually emanated from the 'speakers'!:doh:Quote:
As an aside on Amstrad midi systems, the CD mechanisms in some of the early units were actually almost complete Philips CD players squeezed into an Amstrad box, so weren’t that bad!
Marco.
I'm only making two points.
Well let's start with dither my point is a proven fact. How is that simplistic?
I'll admit it was years ago I read it and I have no link, though I could possibly find one. I think it was in Hi-Fi News.
But I can probably find that Porcupine Tree track so you can hear it directly. It will make you smile. Everytime I hear it it makes me smile. It sounds excellent. It's injected into the track at quite high levels but you don't realise it. Then it stops. But the dither plays on. And there's truck loads of it. And you realise you've been 'had'.
Audiophiles need to realise how limited their perceptions are in certain respects. This gives a true example of what you thought you knew must be a good thing, like low noise, quite simply is not under certain circumstances.
AoS insomniacs post. It's 2:55 AM LOL.
I can go beyond these two points if you want more. There's loads of examples where technically crap sounds AMAZING. Tonnes.
I often dither coz i'm a numpty :ner: