2. digital
  3. 1136402779

When is digital going to get the soul of music?

I have to ask this(actually, I thought I mentioned this in another thread.). It's been at least 25 years of digital. The equivalent in vinyl is 1975. I am currently listening to a pre-1975 album. It conveys the soul of music. Although digital may be more detailed, and even gives more detail than analog does(in a way), when will it convey the soul of music. This has escaped digital, as far as I can tell.
mmakshak
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Of course, you could always argue, and successfully IMO, that the problem with digital does not lie with either the recording technology or the media (optical discs) but with the playback system. Has anyone noticed that stock off the shelf CDs for the most part tend to sound like papier mâché? And that they sound like the dynamics are compressed, that information appears to be missing, and they sound rather irritating, you know, what with all the distortion, lack of fully developed bass and wiry, rolled off high frequencies.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Oddly enough Geoff, no.... I have not noticed any obvious band-pass filter limitations on most of my very standard CD pressings, nor an overall lack of dynamics in the music. Invariably, occasional slight treble distortions appear to be originating from places other than my vintage Esoteric X-01 CD player.

Guido
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
@ TBG, would I need a DSD Dac, Player, to use the DSD double DSD recordings?,, And, What are some good DSD players out there that have a pre built in, or volume control?,, Where would I buy double layer DSD recordings?,, Thankyou, cheers!
koplo
1 posts
 

I think we should announce to the traditional audiophiles,
it is time now we all should migrate to computer audiophile systems.
To replace the spinning-CD transport with terrabyte SSD.
There's already ExactAudioCopy, RubyRipper, & else, (choose JACK, no ALSA, unisntall PulseAudio),
and no ErrorCorrectionCode, and using SSD inside laptops (no spinning HDD).
And in the future, many manufacturers will create more pure digital amplification like NAD M2 (bye-bye tube, bye-bye bipolar),
and interface like Berkeley Alpha USB,
so there are no analogs at all, even at the loudspeakers' terminals.
The sound ?
Even really challenge the 100,000 vinyl+tube systems, with the cost of under 15,000 !
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Here is a total full-range computer-driven tube system for under $35K that was one of the best of show, voted by JA:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/empirical-audio-vapor-audio

The best sound I have heard at ANY show in 15 years of exhibiting at shows, including Stereophile, RMAF CES and Newport. Killer speakers too. I want some....

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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