Article: "Spin Me Round: Why Vinyl is Better Than Digital"


Article: "Spin Me Round: Why Vinyl is Better Than Digital"

I am sharing this for those with an interest. I no longer have vinyl, but I find the issues involved in the debates to be interesting. This piece raises interesting issues and relates them to philosophy, which I know is not everyone's bag. So, you've been warned. I think the philosophical ideas here are pretty well explained -- this is not a journal article. I'm not advocating these ideas, and am not staked in the issues -- so I won't be debating things here. But it's fodder for anyone with an interest, I think. So, discuss away!

https://aestheticsforbirds.com/2019/11/25/spin-me-round-why-vinyl-is-better-than-digital/amp/?fbclid...
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So much so for the non existent qualities or "ethereal" one i speak about speaking of timbre, it seems they exist :

«In short, timbre lives not in the audio signal or in a musical score but in the mind of the listener.» P.20 of this book....lower in the post...

I will precise in the specific ears/ specific brain/ specific room of the "learning" listeners to be understood here by some....

Then to digitalize something so analoglike than timbre we must first recognize the phenomenon and define it with many descriptors....

The scientific theory of these mathematical descriptors is in progress say this first book about all aspects of the concept of timbre....I guess the digitalization modelization of timbre will progress also compared to the actual state indeed....

But it seems that it is possible that actual dac engineering being able to mimic analog turntable are not necessarily superior on all counts, all times, with any dac, in any room against any audio system....Too much factors.... Anyway it is each times our ears that decide if the timbre reproduction is natural or not, not an engineer on audiogon for us all, once for all, it seems....

Each/brain/ears/room are different, without speaking about the different dac, and different audio systems possible....

In one word: TIMBRE is not an "object" that engineers modelized easily once for all thanks to the Nyquist Theorem , it is first and last a learning complex process in variable acoustic environments for human ears....It is then human ears that decide if the timbre is rightly perceived or not ( it is also an objective/subjective interface problem)....The theorem is only about the relations of coding and sampling analog signals...Timbre is not simple signals sampling it is a bundles of acoustical phenomena in relation to an hearing system....


https://www.amazon.com/Timbre-Acoustics-Perception-Cognition-Springer/dp/3030148319
@audio2design you literally said timbre doesn’t exist... that’s severely discrediting

my musical and sound system engineering includes quite a bit actually such as concerts and installations

Analog is actually 4 dimensional while volume reproduction in digital creates loss bc there is no amplitude

It’s not natively sampled in 3/4D while analog is. Was. Pure modern digital can maybe keep up but we can’t tell bc few record on analog anymore. 
What IS nearly definitive is that older recordings, even when remastered digitally, are better in analog delivery.
I’m not arguing this point so much as to explain why so many believe digital sounds inferior (perhaps to those preferring a live performance sound granted).
Here’s another point worth considering
microphones and instruments are analog (infinite in that sense). Sampling no matter how good is not infinite (if you don’t get the 3/4D aspect).  
There’s no instrument but the human ear for this (yet).

BTW the comparison with digital photography is poor
our hearing detail far exceeds our visual acuity
@mahgister I know full well what timbre is since music theory in college

Your mansplaining or copying out of a book is irrelevant and adolescent.

Most of what you talk about is rambling gibberish suitable for an abnormal psych textbook but not here, though we appreciate the enthusiasm!
Tonight’s comparison
Wilco’s “Star Wars”
Qobuz FLAC 44.1kHz/24b > DirectStream+B2 > Kimber KCAG XLR
vs
vinyl on pro-ject RPM3 >gold note ph-10/ps-10 > blue Jean xlr
both into Schiit Freya+ (Tubes off and on, fully balanced on both signals) > Parasound A23 mono > SF Sonetto 8 > my ears

Vinyl wins hands down. Not really a very close comparison. Clarity. Detail. Truer high end.
Here’s to cheap cables? Nah
here’s to vinyl