Learsfool, I would just take issue with a couple of your points, if I may ...
"objection is ... the process of digital recording and processing, and what it does to the sound in the first place, long before anyone's playback": as the only way to know what 'has been done' is by monitoring via a playback of some form, how you can know when the sound has gone "astray". How you do know that the recording hasn't been "perfect", and that it isn't the playback at the recording location that is at fault. And before you say, of course the recording engineers are using high performance, professional equipment, remember my comment about a car capable of 100mph -- it's straightforward to make a car capable of staggering speeds, whether you to want to take a ride in it is another matter!
"what is not present in a digital recording that is in an analog one" and "removes too much information": this type of comment is still made over and over again, and waves a big flag to me that says: digital distortion in the PLAYBACK!
Vinyl has a distinctive, characteristic distortion of pops, crackles and whoosh, tape has one of high frequency hiss, and digital has one of sounding like information has been lost! Granted the latter type of distortion IS disturbing, of course it shouldn't be there, but getting rid of it is NOT solved easily. If it were, none of this type of discussion would take place. But it can be solved, many people have largely done it, there are comments by those who have transcribed good vinyl recordings to digital and then find it almost impossible to pick whether it is the LP or the digital copy playing. What the person has done, of course, is exactly equivalent to having a very high quality accoustic horn gramophone set up in the recording studio with a microphone stuck in front! And it worked ...
Frank
"objection is ... the process of digital recording and processing, and what it does to the sound in the first place, long before anyone's playback": as the only way to know what 'has been done' is by monitoring via a playback of some form, how you can know when the sound has gone "astray". How you do know that the recording hasn't been "perfect", and that it isn't the playback at the recording location that is at fault. And before you say, of course the recording engineers are using high performance, professional equipment, remember my comment about a car capable of 100mph -- it's straightforward to make a car capable of staggering speeds, whether you to want to take a ride in it is another matter!
"what is not present in a digital recording that is in an analog one" and "removes too much information": this type of comment is still made over and over again, and waves a big flag to me that says: digital distortion in the PLAYBACK!
Vinyl has a distinctive, characteristic distortion of pops, crackles and whoosh, tape has one of high frequency hiss, and digital has one of sounding like information has been lost! Granted the latter type of distortion IS disturbing, of course it shouldn't be there, but getting rid of it is NOT solved easily. If it were, none of this type of discussion would take place. But it can be solved, many people have largely done it, there are comments by those who have transcribed good vinyl recordings to digital and then find it almost impossible to pick whether it is the LP or the digital copy playing. What the person has done, of course, is exactly equivalent to having a very high quality accoustic horn gramophone set up in the recording studio with a microphone stuck in front! And it worked ...
Frank
