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I would love to see a study like this done with vinyl vs. digital. 1. Put some vinyl-loving DJs in a hotel room. 2. To factor out identifying pops & scratches

by abalone 13y ago

I would love to see a study like this done with vinyl vs. digital. 1. Put some vinyl-loving DJs in a hotel room. 2. To factor out identifying pops & scratches, pre-record a vinyl song onto digital. Record it several times and use each digital recording only once. 3. Cover their eyes and randomly switch between vinyl & digital. See if they can tell the difference.

antihero 13y ago
I think your test actually factors in one of the reasons people like vinyl - it's not that the sound is necessarily better, but with analogue, there's a uniqueness factor because it's a physical needle hitting a physical groove.
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  And the fact that there aren't small samples of audio being played back at high frequency that rely on the quality of the digital to analogue converters, as well as the other systems in line such as the type of amplifier (class A, A/B, D), the circuitry it goes through (is it solid state or is there a valve somewhere in there?) as well as the speakers used (are they balanced and not too bass/treble heavy and do they reproduce the sound in a consistent way taking into consideration speaker box resonances, room set up and proximity effects next to walls and reflections, and can they reproduce proper bass note fundamentals or are they only producing harmonics of the fundamental?). There is a lot to compare really. But most people think entirely vinyl vs MP3s (!) where MP3s have parts of the audio spectrum cut out in order to facilitate better compression; they typically cut out very high peaks and basses, but you need those high peaks and transients to reproduce snare drum cracks and cymbals (eg. listen to a 128kbps MP3 and see how RUBBISH the cymbals sound). Even if you are feeding digital audio into a system, the speakers and room set up makes a COLOSSAL difference so it isn't fair for people to dismiss "analogue" vs "digital" arguments; it should be "good sound system" vs "bad sound system" arguments.
noonespecial 13y ago
To factor out identifying pops & scratches, pre-record a vinyl song onto digital... This would simply be a digital reproduction of a vinyl recording. (Something I quite like BTW). Vinyl is a "thing" because the process plays a part in creating that sound people love and not just reproducing it.
- sjtrny 13y ago
  It's more a "thing" because of other social status reasons.
- abalone 13y ago
  Which is fine, but that nobody admits to that. How many vinyl enthusiasts would be just as ok consciously listening to a digital creation of the pop and scratch filter they enjoy? PVC is as awful, environmentally bad material and heavy to lug around. Why wouldn't DJs rip their vinyl to digital or just apply a filter to digital sources? Most enthusiasts believe vinyl is actually better (quite adamantly) and that's what this experiment would test.
  - noonespecial 13y ago
    I don't know about a pop and scratch filter but I like some of the recordings of my old records I've captured more than the clean digital versions available now. I don't want random pops and scratches, I think maybe I want my pops and scratches.

by abalone 13y ago

antihero 13y ago

I think your test actually factors in one of the reasons people like vinyl - it's not that the sound is necessarily better, but with analogue, there's a uniqueness factor because it's a physical needle hitting a physical groove.

72deluxe 13y ago
And the fact that there aren't small samples of audio being played back at high frequency that rely on the quality of the digital to analogue converters, as well as the other systems in line such as the type of amplifier (class A, A/B, D), the circuitry it goes through (is it solid state or is there a valve somewhere in there?) as well as the speakers used (are they balanced and not too bass/treble heavy and do they reproduce the sound in a consistent way taking into consideration speaker box resonances, room set up and proximity effects next to walls and reflections, and can they reproduce proper bass note fundamentals or are they only producing harmonics of the fundamental?). There is a lot to compare really. But most people think entirely vinyl vs MP3s (!) where MP3s have parts of the audio spectrum cut out in order to facilitate better compression; they typically cut out very high peaks and basses, but you need those high peaks and transients to reproduce snare drum cracks and cymbals (eg. listen to a 128kbps MP3 and see how RUBBISH the cymbals sound). Even if you are feeding digital audio into a system, the speakers and room set up makes a COLOSSAL difference so it isn't fair for people to dismiss "analogue" vs "digital" arguments; it should be "good sound system" vs "bad sound system" arguments.

noonespecial 13y ago

To factor out identifying pops & scratches, pre-record a vinyl song onto digital... This would simply be a digital reproduction of a vinyl recording. (Something I quite like BTW). Vinyl is a "thing" because the process plays a part in creating that sound people love and not just reproducing it.

sjtrny 13y ago
It's more a "thing" because of other social status reasons.
abalone 13y ago
Which is fine, but that nobody admits to that. How many vinyl enthusiasts would be just as ok consciously listening to a digital creation of the pop and scratch filter they enjoy? PVC is as awful, environmentally bad material and heavy to lug around. Why wouldn't DJs rip their vinyl to digital or just apply a filter to digital sources? Most enthusiasts believe vinyl is actually better (quite adamantly) and that's what this experiment would test.
- noonespecial 13y ago
  I don't know about a pop and scratch filter but I like some of the recordings of my old records I've captured more than the clean digital versions available now. I don't want random pops and scratches, I think maybe I want my pops and scratches.