Compartilhar via

Vinyl Better Than CD?

  • Artigo

An amazingly lucid discussion of the benefits of Vinyl over CD (or lack thereof) is going on over at Slashdot right now.  So far the trolls are straying away.  If you want some understanding of dynamic range compression, sampling, etc.  Check it out.

For the record, I'm in the CD is better camp.  It handles the frequencies that humans can hear (with perhaps a very small minority left out) and is much more stable.  Unless we are mastering CDs for our dogs to listen to, 44.1 is probably sufficient for a consumption medium.  Sure, there are mastering issues on many CDs right now but that's not the fault of CD but rather the process.  A CD without all those issues could easily be produced.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2007
    I don't see that anyone has addressed why CDs are overcompressed; because users want low-dynamic-range audio.  Dynamics are all fine and dandy in a concert hall, but they just don't work for background music. I have a couple of DVDs with "good" dynamic range, and I have to fiddle with the remote constantly while I'm watching them. Start the movie with average volume... Credits start rolling (turn down the music...) Plot exposition starts (turn up the dialog...) Action starts (turn down the music...) Dynamics only work if they're used sparingly, and if the user is willing to accept them.  Remember <blink>?

  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2007
    Maurits WRT DVDs, you can adjust the dynamic range out of the Dolby Digital decoder in either your DVD player or HT amp. Most HT amps have a "night mode" that does just that. As for CDs, anyone who wants a low dynamic range surely does not listen to music for pleasure. http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/dynamicrange.htm Proper background music will always have a compressor between the source and amplifier.

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2007
    @Doug, Good question.  Nyquist theorem says that you can sample a sound frequency 1/2 the sampling rate without any aliasing.  That means a 44.1KHz CD can reproduce anything 22.05 KHz and lower with no problems.  Anything in the 22.05+ KHz range would cause aliasing.  The way that is avoided is by putting the audio through a low-pass filter before sampling.  That way only 22.05 KHz sounds ever get to the sampler and no aliasing can occur.

  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 29, 2007
    The comment has been removed