[Audio Empire]

On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:06:31 -0700, Scott wrote
(in article ):

On Apr 25, 4:42=A0pm, Robert Peirce wrote:
The first letter in the May/June Absolute Sound claims his LPs sound
significantly better than the same albums downloaded from HDtracks.
Ignoring for a moment that this might be true, I wonder how much depends
on equipment?

I have just begun to convert some LPs to 192/24 digital files using
PureVinyl and a TC Impact Twin. =A0It happens the Impact Twin actually
plays the LP in order to convert it, and it is no problem whatsoever to
play the LP and the digital file through the same device. =A0When I do
that I don't hear any difference.

I suspect, if I played the LP, or the file, through a top of the line
device and the other through something much poorer, I would hear a
difference. =A0However, it would be the equipment, not the source. =A0How
often do you think that might be the case? =A0Maybe my hearing is just
shot.

It is a comparison of apples and oranges. Yes the vinyl playback
equipment makes a difference but so does the initial mastering of the
LP vs. the mastering of the hi res download and the source tapes used
for each, There are to many variables between the two for anyone to
draw any conclusions about any specific causes of preference. No doubt
this will degrade into some senseless debate over analog v. digital
and/or some senseless debate over the transparency of digital. Doesn't
matter. The reasons for the differences are obvious, real and not just
a result of the nature of vinyl or hi res digital.


Well, I hope it doesn't devolve into such a debate. Facts are facts, and that
digital, even 16/44.1, is better than analogue is simply not not open to
question, it's just a fact. Also, there's no sense in arguing LP vs. CD. When
"best practices" are used to master and manufacture both, the CD will win
hands down. But there's the rub. "Best practices" aren't always used * for
EITHER format. Generally, and especially with pop music, the latest
remastered pop music sounds worse on modern CD than it ever did on the
original vinyl release or even the initial CD release. In spite of better and
better equipment, remasters today are often mixed to sound louder than the
previous release. They are also, often, a product of modern knob-twiddlers
who try to second guess the original producer and "fix" things that these
modern engineers found objectionable in the original mix. Then of course
there's the state of the original masters themselves. Many of these old
analog masters - especially stuff from the 70's and 80's are falling apart.
Every time the tape is rewound it sheds oxide. That's the music laying in a
reddish-brown pile on the tape deck fascia. There are lots of reasons, but
when someone tells you that the latest re-release of "Dark Side of the Moon"
doesn't seem to sound as good as their older CD of the same title, they're
not hallucinating. It likely doesn't sound as good. But I;ll bet it sounds
LOUDER!