Skeptoid: Digital vs Vinyl, Podcast casts its skeptical eye on digital audio Options

[rick.hughes]

Skeptoid: Digital vs Vinyl

[Fandango]

Didn't he dodge the big question anyway? He said that because the mediums are so different there's no point in ABX'ing them. I doubt he will challenge the theoretical limitations of the vinyl format. He simply claims it's inaudible and not ABX'able anyway, so it doesn't matter. The thing that I'm sceptical about is the first one, sure the effects of vinyl cannot be properly tested with actual vinyl because there are too many giveaways that have nothing to do with the way the format works, crackle, pops and noises feed into from the turntable for instance, but what one could do is simulate the theoretical physical limitations of vinyl records along with the post-production techniques digitally and take such processed samples and compare them to the same source samples treated as if they were produced for a CD. To answer the question he raises right from the start, if the limitations of vinyl alone are even audible, I think is doable, if one can eliminate all interfering factors, from the mics to the mastering and beyond.

Of course the results will hardly be applyable to the real world, because the overall real-world setups of vinyl listening and CD listening and the real-world preparations before each mediums are pressed are as he clearly pointed out too distinct from another.

I mean isn't it unscientific to claim one can do a proper ABX test between vinyl and CD under real-world conditions and say it is likely people can hear a difference because of how vinyl works and not because of all the other factors that also shape the sound that goes in a studio mic and come out a home speaker, them being different for vinyl and CD? Well, I would be very curious if the characteristics of vinyl playback can be simulated as a whole and whether it has been done before, maybe even just for certain aspects of the format.

This post has been edited by Fandango: Mar 29 2012, 03:59

[krabapple]

Didn't he dodge the big question anyway? He said that because the mediums are so different there's no point in ABX'ing them. I doubt he will challenge the theoretical limitations of the vinyl format. He simply claims it's inaudible and not ABX'able anyway, so it doesn't matter. The thing that I'm sceptical about is the first one, sure the effects of vinyl cannot be properly tested with actual vinyl because there are too many giveaways that have nothing to do with the way the format works, crackle, pops and noises feed into from the turntable for instance,

In the real world, an LP doesn't necessarily acquire new crackles and pops and noises between playing it once to record it digitally, and playing it again to compare it to the digital copy. So that is not necessarily a giveaway.

This post has been edited by krabapple: Mar 29 2012, 17:22