Post by stvnharr August 18, 2012 (41 of 48)
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audioholik said:
PS A CD player for example isn't considered an analog playback system just because at some point the digital information it processes is converted to analog.
Just what is this goobledegook supposed to mean?
There may well be some way to design and make some kind of digital amplification system. I think Meridian has developed something along this line. I think you also have to buy the speaker that is part of this system. You cannot just add your own speaker.
I don't know of any speaker that does not use an analog input signal.
If your picture is supposed to say that some all digital system can exist, perhaps you could provide more information than just a computer drawing.
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Post by tadekj August 18, 2012 (42 of 48)
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So this is what is going on.
First Analog signal from the microphone is amplified and later electronically convert to digital signal.
This digital signal can be transformed to DSD or PCM and more or less cannibalized farther manipulated by sound engineers and saved as digital file to a hard drive.
At the end digital file is transferred to be mechanically pressed on SACD to create dents in aluminum or gold foil.
Then in SACD player laser and some electronic devices recreate DSD or PCM digital file.
This digital signal is farther transformed here and there and output as digital to be transformed later to analog or analog and feed to analog preamp and finally to amplifier and speakers.
So who tell me what is a need for all this digital technology and who benefits from it audiophiles or music recording studios and CD/SACD producers?
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tadekj said:
So this is what is going on.
First Analog signal from the microphone is amplified and later electronically convert to digital signal.
This digital signal can be transformed to DSD or PCM and more or less cannibalized farther manipulated by sound engineers and saved as digital file to a hard drive.
At the end digital file is transferred to be mechanically pressed on SACD to create dents in aluminum or gold foil.
Then in SACD player laser and some electronic devices recreate DSD or PCM digital file.
This digital signal is farther transformed here and there and output as digital to be transformed later to analog or analog and feed to analog preamp and finally to amplifier and speakers.
So who tell me what is a need for all this digital technology and who benefits from it audiophiles or music recording studios and CD/SACD producers?
As has been proven time and time again throughout the world, digital is a vastly superior medium for the storage and transmission of signal. Analog is prone to the pickup of noise and distortion with every additional stage of electronics and even cables, especially with increasing distance. Analog storage media, like mag tape and vinyl are prone to deterioration over time or susceptibility to environmental factors like dust. None of that need be true of properly designed digital systems.
For evidence, one need only look at space probes, including the recent Mars lander. Photo and other data are transmitted to earth digitally, as analog transmission would be hopeless.
The worldwide telephone communications systems were converted to digital starting decades ago for similar reasons. Voice communications, as a result, are higher in quality, lower in noise and interference, higher in bandwidth, and much more inexpensively implemented digitally. Digital voice transmission also allows for the convergence with other communications, such as video and data. These systems have fueled the huge growth of worldwide communications, including the worldwide web. It simply would not have been possible via analog.
Audio is always one of the last frontiers for the deployment of newer, better technologies, and that has been the case with digital. But, as a result, well designed digital audio brings us all much, much closer to the original musical event than any analog system was ever capable of. It is not perfect, and it has undergone some growing pains, such as the more limited RBCD standard. But, continued development and refinement and newer standards have brought it a long, long way Having said that, it is quite true that many, many audiophiles prefer the colorations, euphonic distortions and general tweakability of the traditional analog media. Good luck to them, and they are entitled to their opinions, but in truth, analog at its best is simply an inferior replica of the live musical performance.
If you know anything about electronics, you soon realize that proper digital circuit design is also far less costly than is analog. Audio is one of the last major bastions of analog engineering. True improvements come at a relative snail's pace at ever increasing cost. Meanwhile, digital circuitry grows ever faster, better, cheaper by about 20% per year, according to Moore's Law. The examples of this are countless in the modern word on everything from cell phones to digital cameras to automotive electronics, PCs, and many many more. The bottom line is that increasing the digital content of our audio systems results in markedly improved sound at lower consumer prices. Meanwhile, high end analog audio is in an upward death spiral of rapidly increasing prices with tiny performance improvements. Digital audio is still in its infancy, capable of further relative breakthroughs, while analog audio is quite mature and asymptotically limited to only the tiniest incremental improvements
That is it in a nutshell.
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Post by AmonRa August 19, 2012 (44 of 48)
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tadekj said:
what is a need for all this digital technology and who benefits from it
Simply put: it is much more accurate to measure the analog signal once (A-D conversion), transport and manipulate these measurements, and reconstruct the signal with D-A converter than try to make some sort of analog copy of the signal., like mechanical groove (LP) or magnetic fluctuations on tape.
Everybody benefits from this, better quality, cheaper, takes little or no space.
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Post by tadekj August 19, 2012 (45 of 48)
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Thank you for your comments.
Can anybody try to define stage by stage, what will be the ideal digital system recording and SACD play back?
When analog wave should be converted to digital signals and when it should be converted back from digital to analog wave. Also tell me if A/D conversion should be to DSD or PCM.
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AmonRa said:
Everybody benefits from this, better quality, cheaper, takes little or no space.
In order for information to take "no space" it will have to be encoded in DNA not traditional 1's and 0's.
DNA: The Ultimate Hard Drive
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/written-in-dna-code.html?ref=hp
"When it comes to storing information, hard drives don't hold a candle to DNA. Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. A mere milligram of the molecule could encode the complete text of every book in the Library of Congress and have plenty of room to spare"
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audioholik said:
"When it comes to storing information, hard drives don't hold a candle to DNA. Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. A mere milligram of the molecule could encode the complete text of every book in the Library of Congress and have plenty of room to spare"
Hard drive errors can't cause cancer.
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Euell Neverno said:
Hard drive errors can't cause cancer.
The new DNA hard drives won't replace traditional hdd's unless they are thoroughly vetted and confirmed safe, I guess.. although we are already wolfing down tons of genetically modified food and using mobile phones oblivious to the effects they might have on our health in longer term...
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