Tag Archives: digital

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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The meaning of analog

“That sounds so…analog.” What does that actually mean? And what are we saying when we suggest something sounds “digital”.

I wonder if our terminology isn’t out of date. We offer praise when a digital reproduction sounds analog yet we know analog has limitations that digital does not.

I would never suggest that while listening to a live performance that it sounds either analog or digital. I might say it sounds natural, perhaps full and rich, but analog or digital? Never.

I wonder why then we cling to these antiquated terms. And I am not pointing the finger at anyone but me. I am a big offender and want to work on my language at every opportunity.

Perhaps when I slip up you all can help remind me.

There’s no such thing as the sound of analog and digital. They are antiquated terms and I can do better.

 

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Keeping it personal

Emotions, as well as passions, run deep in high-end audio and that’s one of the reasons I am personally invested in it.

In our discussions on preferences for the various camps of reproduction—like vinyl vs. digital—emotions sometimes run as deep as political differences between Democrats and Republicans. I’ve seen near fist fights erupt at audio shows.

When both our emotions and pocketbooks are heavily invested it’s pretty natural to want to defend our decisions.

What’s perhaps good to remember is not our differences but our sameness. Just like our political divides, I believe we are all after the same things. We just differ in our opinions on how to get there.

I don’t always agree with those calling for the discussions to get less heated—not if the lowering of temperature means a lessening of passion. It’s passion that I love and want to continue.

What would happen if we kept in mind what we have in common? That we share a mutual goal of quality reproduction of music.

Would it be possible to remain as passionate about our differences without thinking less of those that disagree?

We are all interested in the same things.

I hope we never agree on how best to get there.

 

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Digital gaps

It’s common wisdom that because digital breaks up sound into bits there’s missing information between those bits—information not lost with analog. But is that accurate?

The comparison between the uninterrupted straight line picture of analog and the chunky digital copy might lead us to imagine differences that don’t necessarily exist.

If I were to side with the measurementists I could pretty definitively demonstrate there is nothing measurably missing in a proper digital recording.

If were to then take the opposite side and agree with the analog proponents that correctly point out the audible differences between digital recordings and analog recordings, we would then be at a stalemate.

If nothing is missing in digital what explains the differences in sound quality?

We can say with absolute certainty that a PCM recording of a live music feed sounds different than an analog or DSD recording of the same event.

Yet, it is also true that a PCM recording of the analog playback is nearly indistinguishable from the analog playback.

Tomorrow I am going to suggest what might be going on.

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Giving yourself permission

We’re a funny lot. If we’ve set some sort of goal or restriction we work hard to stick to it regardless of the outcome. Like promising yourself not to eat French fries, or never play music from Tony Orlando.

But then something changes and you’re faced with a new set of temptations. You don’t want to break your promise to yourself but heck, circumstances have changed. Right? So we give ourselves permission to violate the agreement just this once. Those fries were hand-cut and not the frozen kind, and Tony’s new single did get rave reviews.

Life’s full of guilty pleasures and giving yourself permission to enjoy a few is alright.

You’re convinced digital is king and that analog is antiquated. Or Tidal sounds better than Qobuz, XLR tromps RCA, you should purchase only from a dealer, horn speakers are old fashioned.

When change is in the air, give yourself permission to open up just a smidgen.

That small opening of acceptability can often lead to discovery of the new and exciting.

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Most Telarc recordings I have heard sound bad, so this becomes even more interesting to me. I would have stuck with the analog.

Which would you choose?

Raul Montilla from Puerto Rico sent me a kind note about an interesting experiment from years past. In it, Jack Renner and the engineers from Telarc are said to have recorded the Cleveland Orchestra on both an analog tape recorder and a Soundstream Digital recorder. They then compared the output of the two and all selected the analog tape version as being more musical.

To most of us that doesn’t sound so far fetched. What they did next might stand a few hairs on end.

Curious why their new digital recorder didn’t sound as good as the older analog tape they ran a second set of experiments. In this round, they had the orchestra play again and as they did the engineers switched between the live sound and the output of both recorders. To their surprise, the digital recorder’s output was indistinguishable from the live feed while the analog’s output softened the highs, compressed the strong bass, and added a type of pleasant coloration.

This convinced them to abandon the analog recorder and stick with the Soundstream (and later others) and thus the label Telarc was born. Not everyone would have made that choice.

Which would you have chosen?

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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PS Audio is a remarkable audio only company. After their introduction of a speaker line, which they are working on, they will have a complete  source to loudspeaker line up, at many performance and price levels, all made in Boulder, Colorado. They even have a line of power products, which are very innovative.

The only audio product they don’t make is a turntable and with the sound quality of their DSD DAC, I totally understand why.

They will be moving to bigger quarters in the coming months and there, I’m sure bigger will be better.

Better, bigger, is relative

What exactly is better? Or bigger?

When someone tells me vinyl is better than digital I have to wonder what they mean. Better than what? Their last digital experience? Their last visit to a live concert?

Better isn’t definitive because it’s relative.

Take the system in Music Room One for an example. Digital is definitely better than vinyl. But that doesn’t define digital as better than vinyl in your system.

Better, best, bigger, are such relative terms—easily bandied about—that it probably behooves us to be careful with their use when we imply absolutes.

Maybe a better way (see, there I go again) is to keep it personal.

Better, bigger, for me works.

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Vinyl vs Digital in terms of  audio quality, eh?….I like them both and digital is sure more convenient., unless you are talking about spinning CD’s and even then its still more convenient.

Given pristine copies of both, my turntable rig still does sound better than digital, but it is getting closer.

Does vinyl sound the same as CD?

I was poking around on YouTube and ran into this official looking guy in a turtleneck and blazer proposing something rather absurd. That for any given recording vinyl sounds the same as CD. A lot of people have viewed his talk and I am not including a link because I believe his video is injurious to the truth.

The truth, at least, for some of us.

You see, it is regretful the vast majority of music lovers on the planet probably cannot hear the difference between vinyl and CD. That their equipment is so non-resolving that the two mediums are practically indistinguishable, save for the needle drop and an occasional tick or pop.

Venus and Mars.

In our world, one would question individual hearing if you couldn’t distinguish between vinyl and CD. And we’re not talking about which is better, which is preferred. His statement suggests that no one should be able to hear those differences because they are so slight. And that is simply wrong.

Very wrong.

 

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Been gone, but back. I’m going to post several of Paul’s more interesting posts an will be gin commenting again soo.

Focus

It’s no surprise that vinyl and digital are different. Different mastering techniques, playback equipment, recording chain (often), bandwidth, dynamics.

So it should be no surprise that a system optimized for one, doesn’t sound as good playing back the other. Music Room One, for example, has been optimized for digital audio reproduction. Michael Fremer’s listening room has a vinyl focus. The results for each are predictable. Vinyl optimized systems sound best with vinyl, and the opposite tends to be true for digital.

I have yet to hear a room and system that performs with equal sonic splendor for both playback mediums. Perhaps they exist. I have not heard every room, though over the last forty-five years I’ve heard a fair number of the best.

In my opinion, it’s best to focus setup and equipment choices on one playback medium or the other. Trying to get both perfected is likely going to end in mediocrity.

Some thoughts on the subject might be helpful. First, it’s important to recognize each medium’s strengths and weakness, then focus on those highlights. For example, the toughest challenge in a vinyl based system is getting the music extracted from the disc: focus your money on the turntable, tonearm, and phono cartridge. The greatest difficulty in a digital system is converting the bits into analog: focus your money on the DAC.

Better to have one type of playback be world class, than both mediocre.

Blog Posts

Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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PS Audio introduced on Thursday, the new operating system for the PS Audio DirectStream DAC. This new OS, given for free to owners of this DAC, is called Huron and it is  a fantastic, mind blowing, improvement over what was already a well respected and reviewed DAC and calling it mind blowing is not an overstatement .

As a dealer for PS Audio, I’m proud to represent them, in such a small market as Asheville, NC . To offer improvements for a product, for free, is almost  unheard of in high end audio.  To design and build this stuff in the USA does my heart proud.

Huron is ground breaking  sonically, so Paul is into digital audio, as well he should be.

Thanks Paul.

Sorcery

Not many of us understand how a modern piece of digital equipment works. Right? We get it about converting analog to digital in big brush strokes, but down to the actual bit level? Not likely. Even fewer could actually program a DAC like Ted Smith does.

And it’s not just digital audio that’s a mystery. Even something as obvious as speakers can be daunting. Imagine yourself with the chops to take a handful of wires, parts, and a few drivers to create magic like an Arnie Nudell, Dave Wilson, or Peter Walker—even a Scott McGowan whose singular vision of Sprout built a category.

The people that craft the products we take for granted are like sorcerers. They wave their wands, recite incantations, babble bewildering terms like dissipation, filter windows, rise times, latency, and poof! A product that makes music is born.

The trick for audiophiles is choosing which sorcerer to align themselves with. None are perfect, all design with personality.

Instead of blindly choosing a company’s products, it’s often helpful to pull the curtain back to see if you relate to the wizard operating the levers.

After all, it’s magic.

 

 

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Asheville, Walnut Cove, Biltmore Forrest and Western North Carolina’s Audio and Home Theater specialists present Cane Creek AV and Paul McGowan – PS Audio, Intl.

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Paul is talking about mid-level audio systems and what he thinks you need to concentrate on to get great sound without going expensive.

I’m not sure I totally agree with him on what he writes as to me, as a good digital source, integrated amplifier and good loudspeakers far outweigh the need to “great” interconnect and power cables to sound good. Even a good $400 turntable can be made to sound great, if matched with the right integrated amp and speakers.

There are lots of inexpensive audio cables that would do the trick and although there is a whole cottage industry centered around power cables, I don’t have my customers spend their money there, that is, unless they have enough. As long as cables aren’t bad, most will work fine.

Mid-levels systems

Getting into a mid-level system is probably easier than defining it.

Is price the determinate for categorizing a system, or is it performance? Do we call a great sounding economy system entry-level because it doesn’t cost much?

I’ve seen small fortunes invested in loudspeakers connected to mid-level or even entry-level electronics. And I’ve seen the opposite. So have you.

It’s terribly difficult to stuff concepts in predefined boxes—especially when they are edge cases. We might all agree a NAD receiver and a set of two-ways is entry level, but what of a pair of Sonus Fabers (in their heyday) driven by a Cambridge integrated?

I have to draw the line somewhere and wherever I do, I’ll surely piss off someone. So be it.

A mid-level system has minimal compromises. More money is spent on speakers than electronics. Attention is paid to cables—both power and signal—and electronics are hand picked separates, though a few integrateds might qualify. That’s about as broad and inclusive as I can get.

Now that I’ve stuck my big foot in my mouth and likely angered half the audience, we can move forward.

Glad I got that out of the way.