4 ms·

So can someone here explain what exactly would be needed to improve the quality of audio on these? Is it just higher resolution or does it require better materi

by mvanga 14y ago

So can someone here explain what exactly would be needed to improve the quality of audio on these? Is it just higher resolution or does it require better materials? Can the quality of the plastic dampen the vibrations somehow?

gregsq 14y ago
There's so many aspects to that question, but I'll have a go. The first thing to point out from the materials aspect is that there are compliances everywhere with vinyl records. They are essentially lubricated with plasticisers which are needed to give some reasonable playing life given the accelerations involved. They also depend upon shrinkage in the pressing stage, the metal stamps engineered to allow for material relaxation. There is a slight shrinkage in cooling, and this helps shrink errors as well. However, these processes lower fidelity. The original masters, or even direct to disk recordings, use chiselled stylii driven by a high precision lathe and electromechanics to carve the track in the material. Corrected phasing, given that a difference in track lengths is present between left to right, is also performed. So materials that could do with some annealing after deposition could help, at least until higher resolutions become available. Following a correct RIAA curve of course matters and using a steep low pass filter rather than down sampling an already phase damaged mp3 would help. At the moment all this is hobby stuff though. Allowing material reflow would probably be the best way to preserve the life of the stylus and reduce noise. It's first playing will be carving off the printer resolution deposition errors.
toufka 14y ago
Higher resolution requires better materials - but most additive 3D printing has a max resolution of a few fractions of millimeters (hundreds of microns). A good record has a groove resolution on the order of single micron units - if not smaller. That's actually quite a ways to go. Even conceptually, it's not easy to deposit and solidify something with single micron precision without a well-regulated chamber, a very precise (and probably slow) nozzle. Even the expensive commercial units still have only sub-mm resolution.

by mvanga 14y ago

gregsq 14y ago

There's so many aspects to that question, but I'll have a go. The first thing to point out from the materials aspect is that there are compliances everywhere with vinyl records. They are essentially lubricated with plasticisers which are needed to give some reasonable playing life given the accelerations involved. They also depend upon shrinkage in the pressing stage, the metal stamps engineered to allow for material relaxation. There is a slight shrinkage in cooling, and this helps shrink errors as well. However, these processes lower fidelity. The original masters, or even direct to disk recordings, use chiselled stylii driven by a high precision lathe and electromechanics to carve the track in the material. Corrected phasing, given that a difference in track lengths is present between left to right, is also performed. So materials that could do with some annealing after deposition could help, at least until higher resolutions become available. Following a correct RIAA curve of course matters and using a steep low pass filter rather than down sampling an already phase damaged mp3 would help. At the moment all this is hobby stuff though. Allowing material reflow would probably be the best way to preserve the life of the stylus and reduce noise. It's first playing will be carving off the printer resolution deposition errors.

toufka 14y ago

Higher resolution requires better materials - but most additive 3D printing has a max resolution of a few fractions of millimeters (hundreds of microns). A good record has a groove resolution on the order of single micron units - if not smaller. That's actually quite a ways to go. Even conceptually, it's not easy to deposit and solidify something with single micron precision without a well-regulated chamber, a very precise (and probably slow) nozzle. Even the expensive commercial units still have only sub-mm resolution.