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In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: It is all about hard surface.
Post Subject: The biggest problem is that digital can’t edit.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 6/16/2011
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 steverino wrote:
Romy,

  I thought it was you or maybe I read it elsewhere. SACD was originally a multibit high sample rate format. I believe Sony went to one bit for "security" reasons to prevent copying. I think it's hard to rule out digital encoding until someone combines 4-10MHz sampling rates with 4 bit or more encoding. I agree that any of the current formats are not as good in musical terms as the LP. I've heard them in the recording studio and they still sound digital. If the ultra high sampling multibit doesn't sound better than analog I think we will have to wait for the development of very sophisticated audio wave form processing software which can take a digital encoding and reconstruct how it should sound. That will take some artificial intelligence likely since the contextual factors would be staggeringly complex. In the meantime let's be glad that some very fine lps were made and we have the gear to play them adequately.

Yes, the way how SACD was originally invented it was 4-bit and it was a truly spectacular format.  Sony, converted it in inadequate 1-bit, I do not know what was the reason but for what SACD is 1-bit just physically can’t handle it – it fundamentally wrong format. Still, my feeling is that better formats or better technologies will not bring better sound. The main worsening of Sound by digital technology does not come from limitation of formats but from a corruption of recording culture. In past the tape or a disk was tangible analog evidence all manipulation that took place with it were done by analog means.

Today the masters are digital DSP processing is not considered a problem. The sad truth is that digital is not editable by nature and any DSP processing after a file was recorded terminally destroys the file. You can cut and slice tape 33256 times and it will not destroy sound as much as 0.1db attenuation at digital level. You see: digital fundamentally can’t not edit, can you believe that this will be embraced the industry? No one understands that digital is not editable… Digital is like direct-to-disk cut. It was recorded and it is, no further manipulation with data possible. Do you fell this discipline will even be employed? 

The Cat

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