Vinyl/CD

[Doug Tymofichuk]

On Thu, 27 May 1999 15:56:32 +0200 (MET DST) Martin Czech 
<martin.czech at intermetall.de> wrote:

> I shouda have responed off list ;->
> 
> First, I believe what you have found:
> 
>>>>>>>SNIP<<<<<<<<<<<<

One analogy that I find instructive is as follows:

The noise in vinyl records is like driving with a 
slightly dirty windshield. You can readily focus on the 
dirt, and easily see it, but your eye/brain mechanism can 
also easily ignore the dirt to the point that the outside 
world looks completely normal to you. If you do not focus 
on the dirt, for all practical purposes it is not there.

The noise on CDs is more like looking through a completely 
clean windshield at a world where EVERYTHING is covered in 
a thin layer of dirt. You feel that you can see everything 
quite clearly, but there is something subtle wrong with it 
all, a situation that your eye/brain mechanism has 
difficulty interpreting as "correct" (Your brain "knows" 
that the world does not normally have this distortion).

The former is more "natural" while the latter is more 
"analytical". Both vinyl and cd have their own 
characteristic distortions, it's up to you to decide 
which you prefer. Signal to noise ratio and dynamic range 
are just not as important to the ear than the "type" of 
noise is.

Hope this make some sort of sense!
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca