| Origin Live newsletter No 4 6th March 2004 Why analogue in a digital age?Is vinyl set to continue it's performance superiority over digital in spite of the new format releases? This is a very key question as you consider where to invest, for the future of your music. There are numerous articles in the press about the merits of DVD-A and SACD with an assumption that one is going to ultimately become dominant. Having witnessed the demise of DAT (digital Audio Tape) and Laser disc one can appreciate that new formats are a risky proposition. On the other hand far from being dead and gone, vinyl record sales increase each year as people return to this king of all formats - in fact vinyl records outsold DVD-A and SACD put together last year. All the magazines now agree that the sound of Vinyl played on a modern deck is far superior to digital in spite of all the claimed advances in the technology. Last year record players, cartridges and phono stages were the only growth part of the audio market - everything else was down in sales so what is going on? We were recently asked to take place in an e-mail interview along with a number of others on the subject of analogue verses digital. Below is a full copy of the contents that we contributed to the discussion. This may be helpful to some as it includes a number of points that have not been made in many articles. [1] THEORETICALLY, WHICH IS BETTER - DIGITAL OR ANALOGUE?Theoretically each format could claim superiority if the technology behaved perfectly. However the discussion ultimately boils down to the fact that both mediums have technical issues to overcome. Which is better depends on the limitations of existing technology and knowledge. When CD was first launched, people sited the technical superiority of the medium over vinyl - better dynamic range, lower distortion etc. The same old rhetoric is being repeated for the new digital formats - In the effort to claim technical superiority and the advance of technology, the issue of subjective sound quality appears to have become merely incidental. In spite of the claims for the new formats it is plain that much is still not understood about the exact nature of digital. Things that look perfect on paper turn out to be far from perfect in practice. CD's were eventually discovered to have up to 30% distortion in the bass which is nowhere near as good as vinyl. This is just one example but there is also a raft of other misconceptions - were the designers not aware of these problems? At face value it may seem straightforward to translate a digital code into analogue, so where does it go wrong? is it sampling rates? Even with the new high sampling rate digital formats, the translation from digital to analogue is bound to degrade the signal significantly. This is due to the limitations of the devices that read information on the discs - not all the information is read perfectly and disc reading errors occur continuously. The electronics required to compensate for the ensuing mess has a host of side effects that are most unpleasant. Severe and complex problems lie in the multitude of activities that the electronics must perform. The outcome is that the new digital formats are severely flawed as far as the human ear is concerned. According to a number of expert opinions outside the digital marketing departments, there are specific technical problems with the new formats which mean that they will never outclass vinyl in terms of sound quality. One easily understood issue is the "watermark" that is put on an increasing number of digital discs to prevent copying. This alone is known to cause significant sound degradation with no solution on the horizon. Yet another issue is the need to rectify disc reading errors - can a dta converter really take an educated guess to fill in missing information with accuracy - it doesn't appear so. A crude analogy of the problem is that of cutting up a prime fillet steak into tiny chunks - no matter how finely you cut it and try to put it back together, you still end up with a hamburger not fillet steak. Vinyl analogue replay on the other hand has the following advantages a) No sampling rate unless you call infinity a sampling rate. [2] WHICH SYSTEM DO YOU PERSONALLY PREFER - AND WHY?Not surprisingly I prefer Analogue! It has a fluid sound quality as opposed to digital which can be distinctly edgy at times. There are numerous other subjective differences particularly in the bass region which is where analogue scores so heavily over digital. Analogue portrays an effortless and authoritative bass which forms the foundation of music. Digital sources seldom have this quality - partly because the digital recording itself has been rolled off early and no player can play music which has simply been removed. However in addition to this the players seem unable to convey the warmth and subtleties present in bass areas of the music. As for midrange, treble, and musicality you only have to listen, and the superiority of vinyl is obvious to most people. There will be people who prefer digital but it may depend to some extent on the way they process music in their brain - some people prefer an electronic keyboard over real piano. [3] WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF: [a] ANALOGUE?1) Analogue is now perceived as "the new high end format" by those who have listened to modern turntables and phono stages . For out and out sound quality there is nothing to touch it and this state of affairs will continue due to the inherent problems of digital formats. 2) Many of the recordings on vinyl have not been wrecked by digital re mastering and this alone is often highly significant. The phrase "digitally re mastered" fills most analogue lovers with horror because they have heard the results - How some of the marketing men involved with the digital format get away with the total nonsense they deliver to an unsuspecting public is beyond me. It is also partly responsible in my view for the long term decline in cd sales. By this I mean that although short term sales may seem to increase due to people believing false claims about superior sound quality, in the long run many people wonder why they are finding their new "digitally re mastered" recordings are not really touching them at an emotional level. The disadvantages of analogue is the availability of records although this situation is steadily changing for the better as more and more recordings are repressed and made available through specialist internet mail order companies. Those who have not heard the top record players of today may say that surface noise on records is a problem in the quiet passages of music but again this is largely due to poor quality decks - this situation is dramatically better with new designs. The cost of hardware for analogue is much less than digital - in other words a £1000 record deck will outperform a £12,000 CD player. Turntables are wonderful looking pieces of kit - some of them resemble a work of art. This lends a certain romance to them that CD players don't possess. Turntables are upgradable with better tonearms, cartridges and power supplies. The upgrade path far surpasses digital as an investment because the performance ceiling is so much higher. There are vast quantities of cheap 2nd hand vinyl around. [b] DIGITAL?ADVANTAGES a) Digital is a very convenient medium and easy to record. It is a good successor to audio tape as it has better sound quality and does not suffer degradation with age unless badly treated. b) CD's can be played on portable ghetto blasters and car audio. c) Convenience and flexibility - CD's are small and portable, people can skip tracks using a remote control and the players are more fuss free than record players. DISADVANTAGES Sound quality is hard, edgy, lacks timing, bass warmth and subtlety compared to analogue. The lasers of CD players have a limited life. After 3 years your laser may easily breakdown and it is impossible to find a replacement due to the short life span of most players. [4] WHY DO YOU THINK THE MUSIC AND AUDIO INDUSTRY MOVED TO DIGITAL IN
THE The Industry moved to digital because of the following opportunities. a) The incredibly poor quality of most record players of the day meant that CD would be perceived as a leap forward in sound quality. Hence there would be a big market for CD's and the required hardware to play them. The claim of perfect sound quality on an indestructible disc would be highly attractive and perceived as true by the vast mass of people. b) On a commercial basis, CD's were cheaper to produce than vinyl records. c) Digital had a wider market as CD's were playable on portable ghetto blasters and car audio. [5] WHY DO YOU THINK THERE WAS A VINYL REVIVAL IN THE NINETIES? The revival was partly due to discerning listeners with decent record players - these individuals recognized that CD was actually a backward step in terms of a high quality format The problem with vinyl had not really been a format issue but the low quality of most turntables. These individuals realized that pursuing better and better CD players was never going to make up for the fact that the medium itself was fatally flawed. By way of contrast, Vinyl players were making huge advances. We have now reached the current state of affairs in which the new Goldring turntable at £140 will outperform most CD players. The other factor was that DJ's still used vinyl. This partly explains why it is cool for youngsters to have a turntable in their room. DJ's have an amazing following and are influential in their own right. The great bass quality of analogue is of course a key aspect for dance floors and apart from scratching this is another reason why it is the favoured medium of DJ's. Night clubs are becoming more aware of the potential of analogue and have started fitting our arms to their technics decks with astounding results. Currently one of the clubs in New York which use our arms have been short listed in the top 5 best sounding clubs in the world. [6] DO THE NEW HIGH RES DIGITAL FORMATS (SACD, DVD-A) HAVE A FUTURE?The average person does care about sound quality - if they didn't, CD's
would never have caught on in the first place. People want to have the
best but are easily misled. The accountants and PR people obviously realize
this - everything is touted as having "high sound quality".
Many people are starting to get disillusioned with format change and the
uncertainty of format wars. The new formats are still fatally flawed according
to most experts who give an honest opinion in the magazines. Dilution
of the market place will lead to less profitability and higher prices
- the music industry is doing itself damage through this pursuit. The
hope is that the new formats will revive sales because everyone is going
to rush out and want the best sound quality available. However there are
problems with this perception My honest opinion is that the new formats may have limited success but are unlikely to last for any significant length of time due to the rate of change in the technology of digital storage. Soon there will be further advances in sampling rates and increased storage capacity. However in spite of a number of possibilities the fundamental technical problems associated with digital to analogue conversion are likely to remain unsolved. If the accountants and PR people made a smart analysis, there is a great
argument for promoting Vinyl records as the "new high end format".
The reasons are obvious. [7] WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, ARE THEIR RESPECTIVE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
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