2. digital
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State of the art CD player? Only if you do this.

Im getting irratated with CD player manufacturers saying every year we have eclipsed last years model, with what ever. upsampling, hi rez dacs, smoother, quieter transport, better parts wiring etc!!!! If you want to get the best fidelity (no im not saying vinyl. caught ya didnt I)If you want the best sound possible, best playback. The absolute best then just buy the digital recorder the music was originally recorded on !. The copy can only be as good as the mother right? How much are these digital recorders in major studios? If they are $5000 or $10,000, then how can someone be justified for spending 20,000 on a hi end brand player for CD playback? For analog it would take the master tape with the machine it was recorded on. Totally not feasable. But for digital? How can a consumer player sound better than the original recorder it was recorded on?? It cant!!! Ok maybe these pro models are several hundred thousand dollars. Then I'll admit you got me and I was wrong. The point of this is I want to know how much these pro models cost?? A quick search on google did not turn up anything over $3800! Im not well versed in digital. Are digital masters on tape, CD or hard drive? If its on digital tape well I'll understand. Mike
blueranger
nevillekapadia
96 posts
 
Paperw8 and Ballywho, listen to a master tape or a Tape Project Source and compare that to the vinyl (especially a 45rpm pressing) and the commercial CD copy and that will reveal why I say that CD is limited.
I don't want to change the thread subject by getting into a analog vs vinyl debate.
All I want to say is that with better downloads and higher resolution such as DSD or even 2xDSD they are more closer towards the master than CD will ever be. Hence the author of the thread should be aware of its limitation.
Digital mastering is excellent, but a lot gets lost when we finally get the commercial redbook CD.
Agree LP also has limitations.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,348 posts
 
Recording studios don't control the format music gets released in. Record companies, artists and/or retailers do. So why don't these entities release master tapes? Probably the same reason Google doesn't publish it's search engine algorithms.
paperw8
165 posts
 

12-03-10: Onhwy61
Recording studios don't control the format music gets released in. Record companies, artists and/or retailers do. So why don't these entities release master tapes? Probably the same reason Google doesn't publish it's search engine algorithms.

i think that a better explanation is that audiophiles are too small of a segment to drive decisionmaking in the consumer electronics segment. for example, do you think that someone would be able to fit a master tape in a portable player? it's simply not worthwhile for record companies to offer formats that will cause them to lose money since i doubt that there a many people who would pay the price to make such an endeavor worth their while.
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