How much does sound quality matter to you?

Yes, I admit it. I see why you gave up.

 

That is fine if your hobby is studying laboratory examinations of music.
If that is what rings your bell, then go for it.
Mine is not, my profession and hobby is listening to and performing music.

I would choose a unmolested vinyl of something over a CD that is an blatant alteration of the original on CD as well. Which is why I have CDs I burned from ZZ Tops first five albums on vinyl rather than the CDs.
But I don't find that to be a problem in the vast majority of CDs of rock era music that have been released.

 

Good thing for you irony is not deadly.

 

I never tell someone here when I put them on ignore. I just do it to be rid of them.
I am making an exception in your case just so you know, because I suspect numerous others have as well and maybe you will learn something.

Your posts remind me of Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. You should change your avatar to a picture of him.

Spewing tons of data that have absolutely no practical bearing on real world situations is just plain pointless and annoying.

 

One less clueless person to deal with. Thank you. I love it when someone tells me to use my ears and then tells us that most rock era CD are just fine. better yet, also tells us that Journey recordings are audiophile quality.

 

@Sid Hartha: Hope you enjoy the White Album, and that everyone enjoys Thanksgiving.

@rockledge:
Steve Hoffman's own post about 'Revolver' on CD: "Well, I actually haven't played my CD of Revolver in several years (I can't stand the sound). It's murky, compressed, dry, dead, hard, lifeless, bleached, soulless, brittle, unmusical and all other unflattering words I can't think of right now.."

As for misinformation, I've posted none. No one can site specific examples of said "misinformation," because you won't find any from me on this thread.

Last night, past the midnight hour, when I was not in a state of mind to operate a motor vehicle, sure, I did type the word: "supersonic," rather than: "ultrasonic." My bad, once again -- not intended to be misinformation.

Btw, I'm glad that other post was deleted addressing the rubber nose in my avatar. Thanks, mods.

But anyway, If I were speaking to Scott Wheeler, I would ask him to address the valid information I linked to in post #506. But I don't care. I made my points, and whenever certain members of the peanut gallery here didn't like my replies, they turned to internet rage. And quite frankly, it became very tiring.

I would rather laugh this stuff off, if people don't agree with me. I'm not going to gloss over someone else's valid points, then turn to internet rage in a way to satisfy my own sense of smug self-satisfaction. A few people on this thread take themselves way too seriously.

But I do hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving. It's not an act of courage to hide behind a computer and attempt to insult someone, though, you should be clear on that. Don't pat yourselves on the back too much, because you really don't deserve the accolades.

Once again, Happy Turkey Day, you rude so and so's!

 

I have cited the misinformation you have continued to post several times. The information in post 506 like several other posts shows a stepped "waveform" as the output for some sort of digital audio device. that is complete nonsense. The D/A converter puts out an unstepped continuous waveform. that is a fact. I have posted several links to webpages that explain the entire process in layman's terms. For one to continue to post such gross misinformation about digital audio is really inexcusable especially when you have been given plenty of opportunity to read up on how digital audio actually works. Sid was right. It was all for nothing. You still don't get it despite being hand spooned all the information you need to see just how ridiculous this idea of stepped digital output really is.

Nonsense. I was about as patient as one could possibly be. I still am being remarkably patient and am continuing to keep my responses on point. That point being this continued insistence of nonsensical beliefs about digital audio.

You are taking way too personally. You actually have glossed over my valid points or just plain ignored them. I have provided more than one link to valid information about how digital audio actually works.

 

After a much needed break, I returned to this thread, just to find that not too much has changed

Sampling theory is often unintuitive without a signal processing background. It's not surprising most people routinely misunderstand it. It's also not surprising many people don't even realize they have it wrong. Still the most common misconception is that sampling is fundamentally rough and lossy. A sampled signal is often depicted as a jagged, hard-cornered stair-step facsimile of the original perfectly smooth waveform. This leads people to believe that the faster the sampling rate (and more bits per sample), the finer the stair-step and the closer the approximation will be. The digital signal would sound closer and closer to the original analog signal as sampling rate approaches infinity.

Of course, these beliefs are incorrect. As already explained before, all signals with content entirely below the Nyquist frequency (half the sampling rate) are captured perfectly and completely by sampling; an infinite sampling rate is not required. Sampling doesn't affect frequency response or phase. The analog signal can be reconstructed losslessly, smoothly, and with the exact timing of the original analog signal. Of course, there are still real world complications (signals with content over the Nyquist frequency must be lowpassed before sampling to avoid aliasing distortion etc.), but these are completely different issues.

Socrates, if you don't want to spread misinformation, then please check your sources, especially the link you gave in post #489
http://aboutvinylrecords.com/page/2/
What we can read there, is

"So, what does this have to do with audio? Well, sound is a wave. Organic sound is a nice, smooth, continuous ramp. CDs and DVDs have what’s more of a staircase. They take a snapshot, or sample, at multiple points along the curve of the wave. Take a look: [pictures] Lower sample rates take fewer snapshots of the waveform resulting in a rough recreation of the waveform. Faster sample rates take more snapshots resulting in a smoother and more detailed recreation of the waveform. ... Now, no recording can ever been an exact reproduction of an original, but because vinyl doesn’t sample, or “use stairs” if you like, it can provide a sound wave that’s closer to the original than CDs. And that’s what makes it sound “realer.” ..."

THIS. IS. BRUTAL. NONSENSE.

After D/A conversion there are no more stairs and no signal with content entirely below half the the sampling rate will benefit from further raising the sampling rate, because it is already captured - perfectly, completely and smoothly. Of course there may be other benefits from higher sampling rates (for example, capturing higher frequencies, if you need them), but these have nothing to do with steps and stairs.

 

Here's some info from a guy who has written 24 books.

Why is Scott Wheeler so angry, and what are his credentials?

I have to break this up into three posts, because I keep getting error messages on this forum due to image sizes. Bear with me....



http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/how-analog-to-digital-converter-adc-works/2/



Figure 1: An analog signal.


What the ADC circuit does is to take samples from the analog signal from time to time. Each sample will be converted into a number, based on its voltage level. In Figure 2 you see an example of some sampling points on our analog signal.




Author: Gabriel Torres

Gabriel Torres is a Brazilian best-selling ICT expert, with 24 books published. He started his online career in 1996, when he launched Clube do Hardware, which is one of the oldest and largest websites about technology in Brazil. He created Hardware Secrets in 1999 to expand his knowledge outside his home country.

 

Figure 2: Sampling points.


The frequency on which the sampling will occur is called sampling rate. If a sampling rate of 22,050 Hz is used, for example, this means that in one second 22,050 points will be sampled. Thus, the distance of each sampling point will be of 1 / 22,050 second (45.35 µs, in this case). If a sampling rate of 44,100 Hz is used, it means that 44,100 points will be captured per second. In this case the distance of each point will be of 1 / 44,100 second or 22.675 µs. And so on.

During the digital-to-analog conversion, the numbers will be converted again into voltages. If you think about it for a while, you will see that the waveform resulted from the digital-to-analog conversion won’t be perfect, as it won’t have all the points from the original analog signal, just some of them. In other words, the digital-to-analog converter will connect all the points captured by the analog-to-digital converter, any values that existed originally between these points will be suppressed.

 

You can see an example in Figure 3, where we show how the signal would be after being converted to digital and back to analog. As you can see, the original waveform is more “rounded”.





Figure 3: Signal after being converted to digital and back to analog.


So, the more sampling points we use – i.e., the higher the sampling rate –, the more perfect will be the analog signal produced by the digital-to-analog converter (DAC). However, the more samples we capture more storage space is necessary to store the resulting digital data. For example, an analog-to-digital conversion using a 44,100 Hz sampling rate will generate twice the number of data as a conversion using a 22,050 Hz sampling rate, as it will capture twice the samples from the original waveform.

If you use a low sampling rate, the waveform generated at the DAC will be very different from the original analog signal. If it is music, for example, the music you will play will have a very bad quality.

So, we have this dilemma: if the sampling rate is too high, the output quality will be close to perfection, but you will need a lot of storage space to hold the generated data (i.e., the generated file will be very big); if the sampling rate is too low, the output quality will be bad.

How can you know the best sampling rate to be used during analog-to-digital conversions to have the best storage/quality balance? The answer is the Nyquist Theorem.

This theorem states that the sampling rate on analog-to-digital conversions must be at least two times the value of the highest frequency you want to capture.

Since the human ear listens to sounds up to the frequency of 20 kHz, for music we need to use a sampling rate of at least 40,000 Hz. In fact, the CD uses a 44,100 Hz sampling rate, thus capturing more than our ears can hear (this value was arbitrated by Phillips and Sony when they created the CD). Some professional audio applications use an even higher sampling rate.

The phone system, on the other hand, was created to transmit only human voice, which has a lower frequency range, up to 4 kHz. So on the digital part of the phone system, an 8,000 Hz sampling rate is used. That’s why if you try to transmit music through the phone the quality is bad: the phone circuitry cancels all frequencies above 4 kHz (ask a friend to put his/her phone near a stereo playing and you will hear what we are talking about).

 

... which is exactly what we were trying to explain to you: Any content that is considered audible, i.e., below 22,05 kHz, is captured perfectly and smoothly - without any "digital steps".

You may again say that 22,05 kHz isn't good enough, because frequencies higher than that are actually audible (or are modulating lower, audible frequencies), but that's a different point. The point is that any content below half the sampling rate isn't merely "roughly approximated by digital steps" - it's captured completely and perfectly.

Please note that the dude on aboutvinylrecords even included DVD-Audio into his digital-steps-nonsense, which has a sampling rate of up to 192 kHz and thus absolute precisely captures frequencies up to 96 kHz - which is something you will never have reproduced by any vinyl playback system.

 

That's how the dude from aboutvinylrecords.com wrote it: And that’s what makes it sound “realer.”

I should have quoted him as saying: " And that's what makes it sound [sic] "realer."

"More real" would be proper English. But the dude from aboutvinylrecords.com must have known that, as he used quotation marks around, "realer."

According to the dude from hardwaresecrets.com: "So, the more sampling points we use – i.e., the higher the sampling rate – the more perfect will be the analog signal produced by the digital-to-analog converter (DAC)."

It's more perfect, not perfect.

 

Mal, are you saying this about the dude who wrote 24 books (from hardwaresecrets.com)? X Wrong Answer?

And can you answer this question for me? It's a question, not misinformation.

Would a magnified waveform look like the one highlighted in the 16-bit figure?

 

His problem isn't grammar, it's semantics.

Again: For audio content below half the sampling rate it's not "more perfect", it's "perfect". (Are you even reading what we're posting here?) More perfect in the above sentence is simply referring to the fact that higher frequencies can be captured perfectly, when increasing the sample rate.

Even if you think you need to record audio content up to a frequency of 100 kHz (let's, for the sake of discussion, just say this is the limit of your recording equipment, your physical media, your playback equipment and your ears), you just have to use a sampling frequency of 200 kHz to capture all this content perfectly. Further increasing the sampling rate above this point doesn't make the result more perfect, more precise, more accurate or whatever. There are practical limits to the highest frequencies that can be played back by vinyl, too, so there's definitely a point where your digital recording is capturing absolutely everything you are able to reproduce with your system.

 

I certainly am reading what others and myself have posted to this thread. I've been talking about the importance of high sampling rates since page 1. So, I quote some guy who has written 24 different books, supporting my claim about the importance of high sampling rates, and it's still not good enough for all the armchair experts on this thread.

No, that's not what the sentence above means. It's means it'a a more perfect way to do something, but not perfect. It applies to what we both said. The Nyquist-Shannon sampling rate is sufficient. It's not perfect. But it sure is more perfect than other ways to capture sound.

Nothing is good enough for all the armchair experts on this thread. You think you know everything, but, of course, you don't. You certainly don't know **** from shinola if you think digitally reproduced sound is superior to analog recorded vinyl sound.

 

Are there "digital steps" in a magnified digital waveform, yes or no?

And get "perfect" out of your equations. Lose your concept of perfection.

 

An analogy I was given when I asked about the stepped ladder digital representation that's so prevelent was to a connect the dots picture.

Represent a picture by using a series of dots in place of solid lines. I can see/visualize what the picture should be. I wouldn't just draw straight lines to connect the dots. I would connect the dots using curves to create the desired picture. As long as there are enough dots there to begin with then I should be good.

 

YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO SEPARATE THINGS AND STOP MIXING THEM UP ALL THE TIME!

The recent discussion was about how perfect digital audio is capable of capturing audio content in general and in comparison with analog vinyl. The answer is: It captures everything perfectly and smoothly and without any "steps" - but only up to certain frequencies. As long as you believe in Nyquist (which Mr. Torres obviously does, too), this is a non-debatable fact.

How one should choose this upper frequency limit is a completely different question, which relates to your original sampling rate discussion. This question is still discussed and I don't pretend to have an answer. This is why I am making my own listening-tests, in order to find at least those answers that are pertaining to my kind of music, my equipment and my ears only.

The Nyquist-Shannon sampling rate is (in theory) sufficient to capture content below half the sampling rate in such a way that it can be perfectly reconstructed by your D/A converter. If you think, it says something different, then I can only tell you to get yourself informed in more detail someplace else. I won't tell you that you are wrong, because you wouldn't believe me anyway ...

Of course we don't. We all had to learn what we know now, at some point. The irony is that you are even posting things that are correct, but at the same time don't want to accept any explanations regarding their correct interpretation.

I never said and don't think that digitally reproduced sound is superior to analog recorded vinyl sound. What we are discussing is accuracy (which is completely objective) and not good sound (which is completely subjective) - another distinction you simply didn't get or are refusing to make.

 

Ever thought about what an D/A converter does? Of course its INPUT has steps! No one is denying this! But its OUTPUT has NOT! We are talking about an reconstructed waveform as an D/A converter's output ...

 

If you represent the samples as a staircase waveform it looks stepped, yes.

That representation says nothing about the sampling theorem which describes how you can fully reconstruct the encoded waveform so long as it was band-limited to beneath the half-sampling frequency.

That is to say, what is output upon decoding is not compromised in any sense by the apparent coarseness of a staircase representation of the samples.

 

Shaboo, I don't need any advice from you, especially not in CAPS. But at least you make some valid points, even though you're rigid and you have a bad attitude.

Same goes for you, Mal. If the dude from aboutvinylrecords.com represents the staircase waveform the way he does, then he's technically not wrong, if the waveforms are magnified, right?

As far as Scott Wheeler goes, he's a wannabe sound engineer and a parrot. I learned everything he knows by searching google for half an hour. In fact, I forgot more than he'll ever know.

 

Just one point on Nyquist and the practical application in digital audio. Nyquist tells us a *perfect* reconstruction of the original wave provided *two* things be true. that we have more than double the sampling rate of the highest frequency AND we have exact quantization with those samples. In real life there is always quantization errors and there are always filtering artifacts and other real world complications involved in the actual implementation. In real life A/D conversion is never "perfect." The issue is where are the thresholds of audibility.

 

http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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

I believe I already asked him that twice.