Pre-emphasis is very likely dead IMHO, because ripped CD's data doesn't carry pre-emhpasis bit. A lot of people use servers and music with pre-emphasis would sound bad (+9.5dB@20kHz) without de-emphasis. Some ripping programs might contain plug-in to de-emphasis if needed. There are programs (like SoX) to de-emphasis digital data, but it is additional hassle (to find out if it is needed and convert every song).
(In common CDP to DAC setup S/Pdif carries pre-emphasis bit to DAC)
Learned something new today and it isn't good.
I have been in this crazy hobby for over five decades and thought I knew most of the basic information regarding audio quality.
That was before this morning.
Today I learned about the practise of applying "pre-emphasis" to CDs that was around during the late '70's and early '80's. Apparently this practise was developed as a way of reducing the signal to noise in digital audio. The problem is this was a two-part process and required the CD player to have a "de-emphasis" capability to allow the disk to play properly. Without the application of de-emphasis, cd's would sound "bright".
My question would be, "Does everyone else know about this?"
If you do, "How do you deal with it?"
I still listen to CDs and this is not something I need in my life.
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- 23 posts total
- 23 posts total