HD "HI-FI Vinyl Will Soon Be A Reality 3D Printing Technology

The trouble isn't the electronics or the mechanics, but the life of the laser itself. Not only don't they last forever, they don't even last for very long. A truly long-lasting player would need a redundant laser to kick in when the first one fails.

 

My exact point. The laser's always on these the failure item. The jocks I deal with are reasonably professional and gentle on them.

 

Well that kills it, they press crap there at GZ. I do not care to buy brand new records that come pre-scratched and pre-scuffed from the factory thank you.

It was more than that--RCA was pre-distorting the sound to dumb it down for the average record buyer. Here are some interesting notes, there are a few pages here to read:

Down with Dynagroove!

 

Those Dolby chips would be child's play today. Assuming you could get Dolby's permission. Would probably cost a couple of bucks to manufacture.

The lack of traditional tape formulations would be more of an issue, but they are still making evaporated metal tape for use as backup media. Presumably that could be adapted for analog audio use as well. I'd imagine it would offer even more bandwidth - and much lower noise - than traditional formulations did. Would be expensive, but then so is "audiophile" grade vinyl...

 

Not one reply focuses on the fact that current cutting techniques - as pointed out in the linked article - are hell on the environment. If you could even reproduce the vinyl 'feel' with this technology and toss the "30% extra" crap, I'd be grateful to know my listening preferences weren't killing someone's drinking water.

 

"That problem does not affect me" syndrome. A lot of folks in the western world suffer this conceit.

 

10,000 hours and new for a transport? Who makes one. Tell me who makes one. For ANY PRICE. I can't get a new broadcast CD player today which can last longer than 2 years of heavy use. This is Denon Pro, Tascam, and Marantz Pro models. DVD and Blu-Ray lasers aren't even close to those in durability either. ReVox used to make CD players which lasted 10,000 hours on a laser, so did Studer. But those were Philips CDM-1 mechanisms. Nobody's made one that good ever since. Cheaper, yes, but not as durable or as reliable.

 

Won't be Dolby unless Dolby says it is Dolby. And DSP is not nor will be Dolby. Dolby NR has to come from and be blessed by Dolby Laboratories. Evaporated metal tape for data is just that. Data recording needs are different than analog recording needs.

 

I'm optimistic of that idea of 'HD vinyl technology'. Sounds interesting.

 

Just wondering how a turntable would fair after 2 years of heavy use? Got a feeling that a CD player would have a much better chance of performing at at 100% its capability,compared to a turntable . My 30 year old CD player is still playing as good as it ever did without ever being serviced,adjusted or repaired.Not sure if players nowadays do not last as long.As i have never needed to buy a modern player.

 

We had a young gentleman living with us for a few days (and after he moved out, we still were quite chummy, and he became part of "our posse"), who worked with 3D printing technology.

He and his team printed...a real, working motorcycle, part-by-part.
(Exception being the tires, hoses and the seat. Still and all...day-um.)
Got some damn good press out of it, too.
(The babes...not so much. )

 

If you can successfully record analog video onto "data grade" metal tape then the same should be true of recording analog audio onto "data grade" metal tape.

 

3d printing is amazing it is also used to print old car parts that are not manfucatured, anyone. Example old Model T parts are 3d printed saw it on Jay Leno's Garage.

 

We'll know the technology has finally gone mainstream when they're capable of printing potato chips, yo-yos and air pollution.

Xerox, however, will never allow them to print...a Xerox machine.

 

Video and Audio have totally different needs. What works in tape for one does not for the other.

 

I have a turntable which was built for 18 hour a day use, EVERY DAY. With no more than twice a year maintenance. (two drops of turbine oil) and styli changed as necessary. See my profile for it. It is my Technics SP-25 motor unit, with Audio-Technica ATP 16-T 12" transcription tonearm, and currently uses a Shure M 44-7 cartridge, tracked at 2 grams tracking force. It was built for on the air use on the AM/FM airwaves, with very high performance. It's outlasted cars and many other things in my life. Reliable and as high performance as there can be had. And it's been in continuous use since 1983, when I bought this example new.

 

I would LOVE to have a broadcast quality turntable, but they just seem so expensive.

 

That turntable is also ancient. How many contemporary turntables are built to those standards, and how much would one cost? You could deliver an analog format based on either Blu-ray or modern tape formulations for a fraction of the cost.

Data requires far higher standards than audio. If it'll work for data, obviously it can be made to work for audio. Worse comes to worse resurrect the DAT mechanism only record analog FM audio using a flying head. With modern technology you should easily be able to banish switching noise. Or resurrect DCC and use that tech plus evap metal tape to record high-bandwidth FM analog audio.

Something Blu-ray derived would be your best bet, though. Tons of tech still around for making the players and the discs, would just need to be tweaked a bit to create an analog disc.

 

I just don't see a new analog format being developed today but I'd like it to. I'd preorder, if affordable, both the player and some discs.

 

They are, but some people would be better served by owning one. Especially when you need bombproof dependability with very good performance.

 

I think the odds are between slim and none. But it would probably do better in the market than Pono did...

 

Again, who makes a laser which is dependable for any sustained use. WHO? Answer, NOBODY makes a reliable, heavy duty CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray transport which is. And those laser units you can currently get are why. They're not made to last. These lasers live very short lifespans for anything but light home use. DAT was temperamental and finicky, that was when the machines were BRAND NEW and in WARRANTY. I've dealt with many a finicky DAT machine with issues or which couldn't play a tape made on the DAT machine across the hall. Sorry, you don't UNDERSTAND how bad these machines were in a failure is no option environment.Around the pressure of on air deadlines. MiniDiscs were way more reliable on a bad day. And usually were reliable. PC DAW stations were a lot more reliable too. Sometimes you need tools, not play toys for consumers.

 

For me, this was a lot less expensive than replacing lesser every 5 years. In the long run, it cost me very little. It's worth more money now than what I paid for it too. I am a total cost of ownership man even with home use items. Sometimes lesser in the long run is the most expensive.

 

I've never had a laser or transport fail in 35 years of owning and playing CD/DVD/BLU-Ray/Playstation/XBox..I've heard many arguments for vinyl over the years,but have never heard an argument made that turntables are more reliable and robust than CD players.By definition turntables are more fragile and inconsistent.They are more sensitive to damage,heavy handedness and hard use.The very way that music is reproduced on a turntable minutely damages both the player and the record on each use.A turntable also needs constant adjustment,alignments,oiling,fine tuning to maintain optimum performance whereas CD players needs no attention in order to maintain 100% playback quality.
If your experience has proved CD is not up to heavy use then i respect your view entirely.But for every day home use CD in my experience is a reliable format.
PS..Wouldn't digital files or streams be the most reliable option in radio studios nowadays?

 

You probably don't put heavy hours on them either. And constant use. And no substitute for the laser when it dies. Streams for broadcast are A: Too unreliable and unusable in some markets. B: Digital is used. But MP3 or lossy does not belong on the air. PERIOD. MP3 also has multiple generation issues which exist in broadcast plants. And PC based playout is not always 100% reliable and sometimes not usable during special programming where easily cutting in and out of programming is necessary.