ma93ben wrote:
quoted 8 lines What you have to realise first is that there is an _absolute_ limit of the>
>
> What you have to realise first is that there is an _absolute_ limit of the
> sound quality on CDs: 44.1 Khz. With analogue formats, it is possible to be
> precise to a molecular level, so the sound quality can genuinely approach
> perfection. If the energy wasted on hyping digital formats was used on
> advancing analogue technology then the potential for better quality sound
> would be far greater.
Bleah. When a sound is sampled at a certain rate, the resultant spectrum
contains an image of the original at every frequency corresponding to the
samplerate. Since the source contains both positive and negative frequency
components, this sampling rate must be at least twice that of the highest
frequency component to avoid "overlap" between frequency images (also known
as aliasing). The resultant sound can be fully extracted by applying a
low-pass filter. However, the ear itself is an excellent low-pass filter,
because one cannot hear above 20,000 Hz. Thus, ideally, discrete sampling
can have no effect on the perceived signal if the sampling rate is more than
twice the highest freq. component we can hear, which is true in the case
with CD's. The only irreversible loss occurs when the sampled data
(amplitudes) are then quantized to 8 bits or 16 bits or whatever. However,
since there is some limit where the ear/brain cannot process amplitude
information either, this quantization will have dubious meaning at some
point. I think the sound quality of CD's is excellent for all purposes.
Anyway, vinyl does have more advantages, you can do stuff like funny
packaging, locked grooves, colored surfaces, spinning at multiple speeds
inexpensively etc. Thus arguments could be made that more money should be
spent on improving analogue technology to match the digital standard.
/-oOOo------------oOOo-\
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"the only constant / Harvey D. Thornburg \ "the only certainty
thing is change" / \ is uncertainty"
/ hthornbu@osiris.ac.hmc.edu \
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