Audio, hi-fi and car audio - Independent View Of LP versus CD

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Independent View Of LP versus CD

"Arny Krueger" writes:

"Randy Yates" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" writes:

The general rule of thumb is that it is far easier to
cut an agressive LP than to track it.

Cutting doesn't have to be done in real-time.

Agreed, and there weren't a lot of viable options in the day of.

Today, we can playback vinyl at any speed that suits our other needs, and
still listen to it with natural pitch and timbre.

You mean with sample rate conversion? Yes, we could, but there would be
the problem of the delay as the buffer fills with enough data to go
real-time.

Unfortunately, slow playback won't help problems due to bass excursion, and
will make the tone arm fundamental resonance issues more intrusive because
they will move up the musical scale when we listen.

Huh? I would think that all those things WOULD be mitigated by slowed
playback. A resonance at 30 kHz is better than one at 15 kHz (e.g.)!
--
% Randy Yates % "Midnight, on the water...
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % I saw... the ocean's daughter."
%%% 919-577-9882 % 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head'
%%%% % *El Dorado*, Electric Light Orchestra
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Independent View Of LP versus CD

Randy Yates wrote:
"Arny Krueger" writes:
Unfortunately, slow playback won't help problems due to bass excursion, and
will make the tone arm fundamental resonance issues more intrusive because
they will move up the musical scale when we listen.

Huh? I would think that all those things WOULD be mitigated by slowed
playback. A resonance at 30 kHz is better than one at 15 kHz (e.g.)!

The fundamental arm/stylus resonance is more like 8-12 Hz, not
15 kHz. Playing it at half speed then converting to normal would move
for example, into the 16-24 Hz region.

Independent View Of LP versus CD

wrote in message
ups.com...
The fundamental arm/stylus resonance is more like 8-12 Hz, not
15 kHz. Playing it at half speed then converting to normal would move
for example, into the 16-24 Hz region.

Yes, but since you are only copying to a computer, then it may not matter
all that much. Any artefacts below 30Hz can be filtered out, (usually
nothing below that on the record), and you needn't use monitor speakers, or
even stay in the room, so physical vibration induced problems will not be so
much of an issue.
However it would require the TT/cartridge system to have a relatively flat
response to 15 or 20 Hz, (to get 30 or 40Hz) which is not so easy to achieve
IME.

I also wonder just what benefits would be expected, since a good system can
play all the treble available on any record at normal speed, and the biggest
problem in many cases is in the bass region. Might be better to increase the
playback speed instead.

MrT.

Independent View Of LP versus CD

"Stephen Worth" wrote in message
...
I said that it's perfectly possible to put together a good sounding
setup for playing vinyl LPs for $250 to $300.

Lets see you said :

Dual 1228 ($75 to $100)
Used 70s preamp with phono input ($40)
New cartridge ($50)

OK so far, (depending on your definition of good sounding of course)
assuming you can actually find a Dual 1228 for that price. Just add a new
belt, and possibly replace motor, spindle and arm bearings :-) (assuming you
can actually get them) Good S/H Duals are pretty thin on the ground around
these parts though unfortunately.

Tell us what NEW $300 turntable/arm/cartridge you consider good sounding
with minimal record wear? I guess we should all trade our expensive TT's in
on the cheapest Pro-ject, which is the only thing I know that even comes
close to your price. Having heard one, I won't be trading mine any time
soon!

You also said :

"A $50 conical/spherical tip cartridge is kinder to records than the
most expensive elliptical, and it's a lot easier to keep in proper
alignment."

Which is what I objected to.
Current denial that you even said it, and lack of supporting evidence on
your part is noted.
Your misunderstanding about cartridge alignment is also noted.

MrT.

Independent View Of LP versus CD

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...

I can guess the background (in methodological terms) to the test you
cite, and I'd happily it with you here or elsewhere.
It's pretty simple. We lined up the highest quality live and recorded
analog audibo sources we could in one of top recording studios in the
region, and compared a short piece of wire with a device that put the
audio signal into CD format and then conveted it back to a regular audio
signal. We found no audible difference, using a variety of musicians,
audio engineers and experienced audiophiles as our listeners.

Again, you're confusing methodology with method.

Again, you're turning me off with your endless hair-splitting. If you want
an endless discussion of semantics, I suggest you find an appropriate Usenet
group. There are at least 3 Usenet groups with semantics in their names.

It's quite simple! The two words have *very* different meanings in a
research context. I accept that they're used interchangeably in the
popular/public media, but when you're talking about tests and evidence
you should, I think, explain the reasoning behind your methods. Is that
so unreasonable?

I have no real desire to turn you on to this, or anything else, btw :-)

I also have a few issues with method mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
What are they?

I have no 'expert' knowledge of testing protocols in this context. I would
have thought any lay person would point to:

Environmental variables - light, heat, seating, audience.

Obvious.

Sample - did you test their hearing acuity?

Read the list of participants. Do you seriously think that yo would
naturally find a lot of people in a group of musicians, audio engineers and
experienced audiophiles who lacked at last normal ability to distinguish
sonic differences?

Yes - I did read the summary relating to the participants ...

It strikes me, and here I lapse into stereotype, that the people involved
were possibly middle aged men?

No, the oldest of them were in their late 40s, the youngest were in their
20s.

Who by training listen for and expect particular things?

You must have zero respect for musicians, audio engineers, and audiophiles.

Whose hearing is possibly past its best?

You are obviously clutching for straws.

.... who have two characteristics (at least) in common - professional
familiarity with audio, and (related) an element of expectation relating
to the results. Add to this peer pressure (the results matter to them in
a way that they would not matter - thankfully - to a 10 year old child)
and I think I'm right to question method. It really isn't that difficult.

We had a thread on the tests of a UK consumer mag (called 'Which?') a
while back - their tests 'revealed' audible differences in CD players
and amplifiers. This was fairly unanimously rejected as unscientific
drivel on this NG, and I did go to the trouble of writing to the
magazine editiors for clarification of their test protocols. They were
far more forthcoming - and aware of limitations - than you appear to be.
Why might that be?

Independent View Of LP versus CD

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Rob
wrote:
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...

I can guess the background (in methodological terms) to the test you
cite, and I'd happily it with you here or elsewhere.
It's pretty simple. We lined up the highest quality live and recorded
analog audibo sources we could in one of top recording studios in
the region, and compared a short piece of wire with a device that put
the audio signal into CD format and then conveted it back to a
regular audio signal. We found no audible difference, using a variety
of musicians, audio engineers and experienced audiophiles as our
listeners.

Again, you're confusing methodology with method.

Do you mean by "methodology" here, the reasons for the choice of the
specific experimental method and protocol used? If so, see below...

Yes

I also have a few issues with method mentioned elsewhere in this
thread.
What are they?

I have no 'expert' knowledge of testing protocols in this context. I
would have thought any lay person would point to:

Environmental variables - light, heat, seating, audience. Sample - did
you test their hearing acuity? It strikes me, and here I lapse into
stereotype, that the people involved were possibly middle aged men? Who
by training listen for and expect particular things? Whose hearing is
possibly past its best?!

In my experience it is not common in research reports or papers to give all
the details of why a given method was chosen.[1]

IME there isn't an explanation of methodology in 'vocational-academic'
journal papers. I feel this is in part due to the problem that
methodological issues are impossible to reconcile - at the end of the
day there is a subjective belief statement that underpins rationale. In
social science I would hope editors use a panel that appreciates this,
and opposing methodological positions. Often, no one methodology is
necessarily wrong.

Having said this many papers 'hang off' some well-trodden reasoning, and
they'll use a fleeting reference to (in my field) constructionism,
marxism, empiricism, whatever.

They would normally be
summarised or taken as assumed on the basis that those working in the field
can be expected to have read the relevant background material for
themselves and should know already the strengths, weaknesses, and purposes
of specific methods or protocols for that specific area of study. e.g. they
would already know what main confounding or interfering factors would need
to be controlled or dealt with by the means employed.

The main exception to the above is where a 'new' method is being introduced
(or challenged), and the reasons for this should then either be given, or
explicitily referred to so the reader can look at the reference(s) to
decide this for themselves.

The above is probably why it seems that many experimental scientists tend
not to concern themselves with this as they just use the 'usual tools from
the toolkit'. However when a method/protocol is well established the normal
expectation is that anyone who wishes to challenge it has the onus on them
to do so, and to give both (testable) reasons for their concerns and an
alternative which can be put into practice and judged by its behaviour.[2]

i.e. the methods/protocols themselves are also subject to the scientific
method.

Yep, no problem with any of that. But(!) you can see that some might
find this 'fiercely inductive' - particularly in the non-rigorous
context of this thread?! - CD resolution recording captures the entire
audible range of LP sound. Therefore [insert your own conclusion].

Concerning challenge to convention. I can't say more than 'paradigm
shifts' are a pretty hefty trick to manage, and that is *far* from
accepting that current paradigms are watertight. It's quite possible to
argue that we are at 'the end of history' in the physical world - we
know enough, in other words, to answer questions relating to audible
phenomena. I know you're not saying that, but that's where this thread
ends if people can't/won't talk about the reasoning behind the methods
they use.

Rob, if you are interested in the specifics for audio here, it might make
sense for you to join a body like the AES or find a suitable uni library.
This could probably lead to the info you require.

I've just had a quick look round the AES website. This caught my eye:

http://www.aes.org/publications/AudioCoding.cfm

Training people to listen for compression problems. Of course, that's
fine as it goes, and we all want a codec that captures as much of the
original in as small a space as possible. But wouldn't it be better for
non-scientists to listen to music?!

I don't have too much time to look into this, and predictably the work
server is down atm ;-). I only popped my head over the parapet to see if
anyone could shine some light on the reasoning behind these CD-LP
beliefs, and it seems the answer I have been asked to accept is that
convention dictates.

Of more practical use, I've been coerced into this:

http://www.musicintheround.co.uk/

So perhaps listening to live music, having a listen at home, and making
up my own mind (about media and equipment) is the way to go?! Life's too
short :-)

Rob

Slainte,

Jim

[1] Note, though, that this is mostly in areas quite different to audio
listening comparisons, etc.

[2] Doing so may then quickly lead to finding material already published
that covers the relevant points - or may not. Such is research. :-)

Independent View Of LP versus CD

In article , Rob
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Rob

In my experience it is not common in research reports or papers to
give all the details of why a given method was chosen.[1]

IME there isn't an explanation of methodology in 'vocational-academic'
journal papers. I feel this is in part due to the problem that
methodological issues are impossible to reconcile - at the end of the
day there is a subjective belief statement that underpins rationale.

Afraid I don't see that. The point of the scientific method is that it
defines the process by which its validity of application to a given topic
can be tested. This does not seem a 'subjective belief' to me. Perhaps I am
simply misunderstanding what you are saying.

The point is not that results are taken to always be 'final and absolute'
in any except 'trivial' cases. The results or conclusions are always
'provisional' and it is open to someone else to propose a 'better' idea, or
test method *which can be put into action and tested by its results*. But
that final clause is vital. Anyone can express doubts or speculate, but in
itself they gets us nowhere much. The vital test is, what method
(experiment) can we employ whose results would distingush between a 'new'
proposal or method and an 'old' one in terms of reliability of results and
giving us a useful description of how things work/behave?

The only basic 'belief' here seems to me to be that the observable may be
'real', and we can make some sense of it, as opposed to assuming that
everything is a dream, or the behaviour of reality changes according to
what we think.

Despite fancy titles or statements in popular science books or TV
programmes, science and experimental methods aren't about the 'truth'. That
is best left to theologians, lawyers, and mathematicians. Different union,
so we have to avoid demarkation disputes. :-) Scientific experiments are
about obtaining evidence to check ideas and see if they are reliable as
descriptions of how things behave - or not. If this approach can't be used,
then it isn't science.

[snip]

Concerning challenge to convention. I can't say more than 'paradigm
shifts' are a pretty hefty trick to manage, and that is *far* from
accepting that current paradigms are watertight. It's quite possible to
argue that we are at 'the end of history' in the physical world - we
know enough, in other words, to answer questions relating to audible
phenomena. I know you're not saying that, but that's where this thread
ends if people can't/won't talk about the reasoning behind the methods
they use.

FWIW It is many decades since many academic or professional scientists even
thought it would be *possible* to reach and 'end' of the kind you describe.
:-) Indeed, most of us would be horrified if it came about. No more
grants for that vital next bit of research. We'd all have to stop waving
our hands about and writing on the tablecloths. ;-

Rob, if you are interested in the specifics for audio here, it might
make sense for you to join a body like the AES or find a suitable uni
library. This could probably lead to the info you require.

I've just had a quick look round the AES website. This caught my eye:

http://www.aes.org/publications/AudioCoding.cfm

Training people to listen for compression problems. Of course, that's
fine as it goes, and we all want a codec that captures as much of the
original in as small a space as possible. But wouldn't it be better for
non-scientists to listen to music?!

That depends on if you want to listen to music, or if you want to test the
claims and ideas people have about why one system/item 'sounds different'
to another, etc. :-)

I don't have too much time to look into this, and predictably the work
server is down atm ;-). I only popped my head over the parapet to see if
anyone could shine some light on the reasoning behind these CD-LP
beliefs, and it seems the answer I have been asked to accept is that
convention dictates.

As yet, I am not sure if you have actually found the basis in experiment of
why people have developed the methods they now tend to use.

Of more practical use, I've been coerced into this:

http://www.musicintheround.co.uk/

So perhaps listening to live music, having a listen at home, and making
up my own mind (about media and equipment) is the way to go?! Life's too
short :-)

I gave up most attempts to compare items of equipment years ago. It is
useful if someone does this, but as you indicate, it does waste time you
could spend just enjoying the music. :-)

I now leave it to younger people who probably have better ears now than me,
more time to waste, and seem not to have got over being more interested in
the container than the contained. ;-

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Independent View Of LP versus CD

"Randy Yates" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" writes:

"Randy Yates" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" writes:

The general rule of thumb is that it is far easier to
cut an agressive LP than to track it.

Cutting doesn't have to be done in real-time.

Agreed, and there weren't a lot of viable options in the
day of.

Today, we can playback vinyl at any speed that suits our
other needs, and still listen to it with natural pitch
and timbre.

You mean with sample rate conversion? Yes, we could, but
there would be the problem of the delay as the buffer
fills with enough data to go real-time.

Real-time listening is not required.

Unfortunately, slow playback won't help problems due to
bass excursion, and will make the tone arm fundamental
resonance issues more intrusive because they will move
up the musical scale when we listen.

Huh? I would think that all those things WOULD be
mitigated by slowed playback. A resonance at 30 kHz is
better than one at 15 kHz (e.g.)!

Tone arm fundamental resonances are in the 6-12 Hz range. Play a LP at half
speed and bring up to playback pitch, and they are now in the 12-24 Hz
range. Remember, that's the center frequency of the resonance. Tone arm
resonances are moderately damped, so their effects afflict several octaves.

Independent View Of LP versus CD

In article , Mr.T
MrT@home wrote:

assuming you can actually find a Dual 1228 for that price. Just add a new
belt, and possibly replace motor, spindle and arm bearings :-) (assuming you
can actually get them) Good S/H Duals are pretty thin on the ground around
these parts though unfortunately.

I've bought three myself for between $50 and $100 at ebay. They were
all in great condition and needed no servicing. There are good Duals
for sale at ebay all the time.

Tell us what NEW $300 turntable/arm/cartridge you consider good sounding
with minimal record wear?

Turntables today are a very weak specialty market. They are either
overpriced cheap decks or way overpriced well made ones. It doesn't
make sense to buy new turntables for so much money, when there are so
many excellent used ones from the 70s that offer so much more value for
the money.

You're just arguing for arguing's sake. You know all this stuff already.

See ya
Steve

--
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