At 12:55 PM -0800 11/13/09, Joseph McAllister wrote:
On Nov 13, 2009, at 09:41 , J.C. O'Connell wrote:
ok, I'LL REPHRASE IT, The benefits of digital CD are worthless if it
does sound SATISFACTORY!
On a top of the line, state of the art audio system, played through
a $2500 or better D to A converter, good CDs ripped into iTunes on
my Mac (or PC) using Apple's lossless compression (same as the CD,
basically), digitally sourced music sounds very sweet. Probably
because it is pumped through a conga line of vacuum tubes to get to
the speakers, which themselves are another analog stage to pass
through.
But vinyl sounds warmer, with better staging, and more air, ultimately.
I have heard some pretty lousy CDs in my time...but inevitably
because the source material was poorly mastered.
I have heard some lousy LPs in my time...especially LPs made from the
70s onwards, after the manufacturers started using recycled vinyl.
LPs also can suffer from poor mastering, too; plus poor pressing.
They are also more delicate than a CD, they are more prone to dust
and they wear when you play them.
In short, while it may be possible to have an LP sound as good as a
CD, in my real world experience with both, CDs usually come out ahead.
And that's just the short version! When you add the additional
variables that differing stereo equipment and systems throw in,
things become real complex.
--
Steve Sharpe
[email protected]
http://earth.delith.com/photo_gallery.html
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
