So, the other day I had a long discussion with a friend who is learning engineering. He says that analog is way superior to digital in every way bla blab blah..you have heard this before I'm sure. I replied that, of course there are numerous differences in the reproduction of the sound, from a business perspective digital is king. I have yet to acquire my desired collection of vintage pre's and mic's, but I really do think that a good signal path to the recorder is the number one ingredient.To me, this is a stupid debate. Most of us are sampling anywhere from 24192khz down to 16-48(eek..black face of shame.) This much info is far superior to the final CD product.
What do you think of this, and do you think this will change with the distribution of DVD audio.
Comments
Re: .......digital vs analog vs digital vs analog vs........ He
Re: .......digital vs analog vs digital vs analog vs........
Here's another thing that kind of pisses me off. What's with the volume? I know, I know, louder for radio broadcast purposes right?
One of the main advantages to digital is greater dynamic range with no noise. I kinda wish people would wise up about this one. Perhaps with an increase in popularity, digital broadcast will induce a desire for super-dynamic consumer recordings.
Re: .......digital vs analog vs digital vs analog vs........ Me
Re: .......digital vs analog vs digital vs analog vs........
Methinks a good fraction of people who have a ridiculously firm pro-analog stance either:
1) Like analog because of its familiarity - nothing to do with sound quality.
2) Have heard only really cheap DSP plugins which don't do justice to what digital is REALLY capable of.
3) Both
Of course, high-end analog reverb and compressors still can't be replaced, but digital is seriously coming close, and fast. Analogue has had a history of at least half a century already. I'm willing to bet the first EQ or compressor circuit boards sounded nowhere near as good as the first few digital plugins of the same. ;)
Quantisation noise? With intelligent noise shaping and >24-bit recording, this isn't an excuse anymore. Transmission of digital audio via lines like USB or firewire across large distances gives much less line noise.
I'm just waiting for the era where digital is so well integrated that balanced lines will be a thing of the past. ;P One thing I'd like to see would be a small device which has a 1/4" (or XLR) lead on one side and 24/96 digital I/O on the other. Who knows, I'm willing to bet that some such will become mainstay within the next decade or so.