Analog or Digital?

[gabriel g.]

It´s the same in audio and video:

For video (just facts):
Everybody saying film looks better then digital: why do they say that:
Because (just facts)
Film: for example SUPER 35mm
1.film with a high ASA (like ASA 100) has up to 8000 pixels horizontal.
To avoid alias structures you have to double size this definition up to 16 000 pixels.
2.Your colour information have the same defnition because all colours (RGB)
are lying on each other in the medium film.

Digital: for example the RED ONE
1. Has a 4000 pixels horizontal with one 35mm CCD chip
2. The colour information is saved in a "bayern-pattern" so you have RED, BLUE, GREEN and and one more GREEN.
So you have just 1000 horizontal pixels for each colour
3. with interpolation the picture becomes "pimped" up to a speudo 4k.

So the FILM totaly owns the digital

But:
at the end of the progress (digital the film, cutting, compressing,exposure to light, copying)
you sometimes have just 15000 horizontal pixels left in the cinema.

So a lot of people just say: go all the way digital to avoid deprivation of definition...

 

[gabriel g.]

I think for audio its all about the bandwich you have with digital and analog mediums.
In the end there is no "good" colouring of the picture or the tone!!!!!!!!!


But a lot of people need the colouring (harmonic distortion, film rotation) for the subjective like.

 

[Dom Ostarig]

I think we have to remeber that their design of a digital sound wave, reflects the samplerate and bitdeph issues at that time..... there's no better or worst in digital x analog....it's just different things.

 

[AudioPhile777]

I think for audio its all about the bandwich you have with digital and analog mediums.

"Bandwich" - Audio Engineer's lunch.

 

[Metaltastic]

"Bandwich" - Audio Engineer's lunch.

 

[Saculus]

side note:I work at amazon.com and we have 6 copies of Rust In Peace on vinyl, and And Justice for All... 4 - Disc 12" 45 set (the box is a inch and a half thick) . We're expanding our Vinyl capacity at the building I work at. Its not huge but growing,

 

[colonel kurtz]

just curious...

but who else here would bet that the beatles, george martin, and geoff emerick would've KILLED to be able to do what we can nowadays digitally while recording sgt. peppers...or pink floyd while tracking dark side...

 

[Kazrog]

OK so here are my thoughts:

• I missed out on vinyl the first time around, and I'm going to get a turntable soon and get into it. I'll be doing a/b tests with vinyl, CDs, and DVD audio, drawing my own conclusions, doing some blindfold tests, etc. I have no bias on this issue, I simply want to discover the differences for myself, since it's clear that people I respect (Dave Mustaine and audiophiles) disagree on this subject.
• I can hear a BIG difference between 24 bit 44.1 khz vs. 24 bit 88.2 or 96 khz on my studio monitors, mainly in terms of dynamics, delay and reverb tails, etc. Not critical for most metal, but for stuff like Porcupine Tree or Opeth, Jazz, or Classical music, it's an important, noticeable difference.
• It's my educated guess that vinyl is going to take the win over CDs in my listening environment, but that DVD Audio may beat out both in terms of overall quality.

My newly set up listening environment in my house for enjoying music is 70s and 80s vintage on purpose (because nothing like it is made today at any price) - JBL L100 Century speakers, paired up with JBL 216As, with a Marantz 2245 receiver powering it all. Epic win - I highly recommend all of the aforementioned gear to anyone looking to get into a budget audiophile system that will beat all but the best stuff made today.

Right now on this system, I'm blown away by how horrible my iPod and iPhone sound on this system with lossless files compared to the same albums on CD using my PlayStation 2 as a CD player. DVD Audio discs I own (Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Rush, etc.) sound even better than CDs. Apple puts absolute rock-bottom D-A converters in iPods (again, worse than my slimline PS2 with combined A/V outs - hardly audiophile quality there!!!) I've also noticed that the converters in my 2003 monochrome display iPod slay the ones in my iPhone, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle (all of which are newer.) Apple is, very sadly, no longer the mark of quality - but they love charging the high price for the name, which is a rant for another day and another thread...

My hope is that people will at least recognize that when they download a pirated mp3 they are getting something of considerably less quality than a CD, especially if they are using iPods as their playback device. Perhaps the vinyl trend is good, because it will at least get people into lossless, pristine audio - and the analog experience, which cannot be pirated!

 

[HeadCrusher]

I don't know anybody who's not into Audio that can tell the difference between a 192 kbps MP3 and the CD. Therefore I can't imagine that the "You get less quality"-argument is going to stop Average Joe from downloading.

 

[kaomao]

Guys do you have the vinyl version of the black album?
I know Metallica wanted it to be a double record since they wanted more quality to it, I mean bigger waves on the surface less hiss I guess.
Did you hear that vinyl? I didn't, I just listened to the dvd-audio version that came years ago and I tell ya, besides it was 5.1 you can't compare it to the cd (instruments panned differently for istance) it didn't sound so much better, maybe and I say maybe, it sounded a little more dynamic, but it was very subtle.

 

[Kazrog]

I don't know anybody who's not into Audio that can tell the difference between a 192 kbps MP3 and the CD. Therefore I can't imagine that the "You get less quality"-argument is going to stop Average Joe from downloading.

It's not about the argument, it's about the experience. Perhaps with more people adopting vinyl as a bandwagon or fad, more people will get to experience lossless, analog audio who otherwise wouldn't.

 

[MT01]

We live in an analogue world.

Digital technology was created by man for convenience.

Sound is subjective.

Over and out.

 

[Erkan]

We live in an analogue world.

I wouldn't be so sure about that

How do you know that the Big Bang wasn't some guy pressing "Start Simulation" on his computer?

 

[MT01]

I wouldn't be so sure about that

How do you know that the Big Bang wasn't some guy pressing "Start Simulation" on his computer?

Matrix within a matrix.