http://krakow.msnbc.msn.com:80/archi...29/338888.aspx
"There's a good reason for this. In addition to what people remember as the
bad things that LPs provide (scratches, clicks and pops) vinyl discs have
lots of good things going for them. LPs contain close to 100-percent of the
uncompressed music information as originally recorded. CDs contain only
about half of that recorded information. And compressed music files are
left with only a small percentage of the information that's on a CD."
With all due respect to Gary Krakow, he seems to be flaunting his ignorance
of the relevant technologies. I understand that Gary wrote for Stereophile
once upon a time. I don't think that even John Atkinson would tolerate this
kind of technical error, heavy vinylista advertising in Stereophile
notwithstanding.
Information theory (which Gary is obviously appealing to when he says "music
information") states that information can be quantified, based on the
product of bandwidth and dynamic range.
For example, an analog or digital channel with 6 dB more dynamic range is
capable of passing twice as much information. An analog or digital channel
with twice the bandwidth is capable of passing twice as much information.
Applying the most generous weighting factors will allow the claim that the
LP format is capable of about 75 dB dynamic range. In the real world,
disappointing dynamic ranges of even 45 dB are not unheard of when vinyl is
in play.
The CD format is capable of more like 95 dB dynamic range, even when judged
by a stiffer standard - unweighted noise. The clear advantage goes to the
CD format, and by a factor of 10 or more.
BTW, my analysis ignores the fact that LPs are prone to many scratches,
clicks, and pops while CDs are not. Krakow goes further than most
vinylistas in the direction of truth by admitting that these exist.
Scratches, clicks and pops do more than just distract you from the music,
they detract from dynamic range. A good scratch or pop may be louder than
the music, possibly leading to the mind-bending concept of negative dynamic
range.
Therefore, by the most pro-LP-biased of technical evaluations, the music
information leader is as always the CD format, and by a factor of at least
10. This means that if the LP format had far more bandwidth than the CD
format (which as a practical matter it does not) the LP format would need to
have 10 times more bandwidth than the CD format to break even.
It would be a different world if journalists who pretend to be technical
experts by dispensing technical advice had useful amounts of basic audio
engineering training.