(I've been away from the MD-L for a few years, but am returning now
because I'm trying to clarify some terminology...)
Somebody claimed:
> CD-DA is compressed in a manner similar to MD: it removes bits of
> information that you allegedly cannot hear (which is not true).
Now, as I understand it, recording at 44.1kHz and thus cutting out all
audio above 22.05kHz (and having somewhat of an effect on frequencies
close to that too...) simply isn't called compression.
I agree with you. I think that some people don't understand the difference
between roll off and compression. FM radio only goes up to 15,000cps for
example. That is not compression. Now FM radio may use other things that are
compression but cutting off the frequency response is not a compression
technique.
Compression as I understand it is an encoding and decoding process. Anything
that is compressed will have to be "decompressed" in order to play it. Also,
compression is almost always a lossy technique. When you decode (even though
the human ear may find it next to impossible to distinguish between the
original uncompressed source and the compressed copy) there is something
missing from the compressed version.
Since if you cut the frequency response off at a certain point and can never
recover the sounds above that frequency response, that is not compress.
Compression allows you to recover a facsimile of the original source. Just
how different that is depends upon how lossy the technique is.
There are so many other factors that play a part here. Like dynamic range and
signal to noise ratio (no these are not the same-I can't understand why some
people confuse them). All recorded sources have a limit as to their signal to
noise ratio. That's why recording engineers "ride the gain".
I suppose that if you wanted to, you could cause anything that reduces the
amount of information from the original source a form of compression. But in
the terms we think of it today (and the definition that I accept (for what
ever my opinion is worth) the term compression means encoding and decoding.
MP3, ATRAC are compression techniques. Cutting frequency or limiting the
difference between the quietest and loudest sound is not in my opinion what we
think of today when we speak about compress (although in the broadest sense
removing or limiting anything probably could be called compression-I just
don't think it is in common usage of the word today.
Well sorry for all of the bull sh*t. Please don't spam me. If I have made
any errors of fact, please correct me. If you have differing opinion, express
it, but please don't spam me. In areas that are subjective everyone is
entitled to their opinion.
One last thing. This old timer remembers when frequency response was
expressed as cps (cycles per second). Where did this Hz sh!t come in?? Why
not use the more descriptive term?
Regards,
Larry
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