A Copernican View of the Turntable System


Once again this site rejects my long posting so I need to post it via this link to my 'Systems' page
HERE
128x128halcro
Thuchan if your going to hang around the air port for Raul to show up , may I suggest you wearing a large sombrero, aways good to stand out among a crowd.
Dear Thuchan and Halcro: I'm still an analog/LP music lover and I think I will be for years to come but now that I " discovery " the digital source I'm trying to learn at least two subjects:
why analog people " hate " or diminished the digital source and second to understand what " happen " under digital domain: what we can hear on the digital domain/what's wrong or good.

I think I know all the LP/analog experience advantages and disadvantages and I for now am a happy analog/LP person.

Try to cofront in serious way the digital " experience " is something where for we analog guys the LP has a big handicap against the digital today status ( on our home audio systems. ) because analog/LP is what we like, it is how our " ears " are accustom to enjoy music at home and even our audio system set up was made for analog/LP playback including what we choosed for electronic audio items and speakers: everything that surrounded goes in favor of analog not digital.

Even that IMHO the digital ( 24/176.8 and in less way the redbook ) has some main advantages: widest frequency response and dynamic range than analog, lower distortions, lower noise level, better accuracy level, easy to set up, etc. etc.

Disadvantages?, I really can't see or I'm really unaware of any important disadvantages other that the ones I name it and that are not a digital technology disadvantage but an unfriendly scenario where the digital source has to " work ".

IMHO a well recorded digital source has nothing to ask against LP ( everything the same. ). Yes there are CDs and DVDAs that are bad ones but this fact is true on the analog side where we have bad recordings too.

Yes, it is true that on CDs the high frequency extreme is really limited and is an important drawback but well recorded CDs ( with upsampling ) performs acceptable and at good level.
Even that at the other frequency extreme where belongs the bass the CDs are a lot better that our beloved LP.

When we take a DVDA ( 24/176.8 0r 192khz. ) the CDs main drawback just disappear and instead of that " appear " what for us LP lovers was and is losted in the CD experience.

In theory a digital recording add less " non recorded information " than the LP recordings and this IMHO could tell us that a digital source is truer to the recording than a LP.

Something important that I learned about digital experience is not heard it thinking to find out/looking for a " similar " LP quality performance.

This is a big error/mistake, we have to understand the digital playback: what is inside and what is not, , we need a different reference say: live music.

All the overall ( non in the recording ) additional LP " artefacts/contrivance " do not comes in the digital source and with its lower distortions/noise level the digital music experience is " different " from analog/LP, so why are we waiting for a similar experience?: no way.

A big disadvantage that well recorded digital medium has is that with digital playback " errors/mistakes or lessen designs " in our electronics or room/speakers and audio system set up comes out and many times these is what we are hearing and we think that the culprit of all these is the digital medium/recording when in reality the problem belongs inside anywere on the audio system.

It is difficult to think in a source with lower noise/distortion levels that digital and this characteristic IMHO expose everything in any audio system especially the dedicated analog set ups.

Am I in love with digital?, not really but now that I'm starting to undestand it and learning on the whole subject I accepted and enjoyed as a " new " good music source alternative. Unfortunately I don't have enough software but I'm trying to buy and find out what I like on music different genre.

Thuchan, our tonearm project is running in " solid " way and almost finished.
To accept in wide way the digital alternative only means that: accept it, my love for analog/LP does not change.

Gentlemans, the digital alternative is IMHO a serious alternative that could be worth for some of you to give it an opportuniy.
It is like the SS alternative or the DD-TT alternative or the MM/MI cartridge alternative or the linear tracking alternative: it is a good alternative that IMHO is better that what we are accustomed to think.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
Raul, For me digital is an alternative reserved for when I want to read a book or when we are having a party, and I want background music. However I freely admit that, though my cdp is quite tweaked, it is hardly state of the art. Besides that, surely you don't mean to imply that we have "solved" the mysteries of LP reproduction, except to discover that a bunch of well meaning perfectionists living all over the earth have very different opinions on every aspect of the subject. Have you abandoned the LP odyssey? Your absence would be a loss to this discourse.
Dear Lewm: Certainly not I'm involve deep with analog/LP odyssey. My target is to take full domain ot that technology to find out/looking for the " pinnacle " that this technology can show us and that till today perhaps we know only the 80%-90% of the 100% the technology can/could achieve.

That's why I ( years ago ) decided to design a Phonolinepreamp, a tonearm, a cartridge an a TT that could help me to attain that main/top target.

I know for sure that the analog/LP " experience " is not only alive but waiting for each one of us new discoveries.

Lewm, I think that for we can appreciate what the digital technology can help us to enjoy music first that all we need IMHO the right attitude, we need to change a little about the whole digital subject.
Certainly you don't have that attitude yet but you and other persons like Halcro had not the " right " attitude about the MM/MI alternative either however both of you already have great experiences with the MM/MI alternative.
I think that the " time " will comes sooner or latter for each one of us.

Lewm, I'm not promoting the digital alternative. I'm and still follow the analog/LP alternative, no single doubt about.

Dear Thuchan, yes you are interpreting not only so deeply but in the wrong direction.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
Yeah, and what would Freud have to say about the need to have a dozen tonearms?