[sdiy] Analog vs. Digital Technologies (was Nifty Slider...)

[allenre at umich.edu]

I've seen two threads in these discussions.  The first concerns which
recording/reproduction medium, digital or analog, results in a more accurate
representation of the signal.  The concurrent issue being discussed asks which
methods result in a more aesthetically pleasing product.  Yet support of one
position as a superior method of capturing sound, whether analog OR digital,
does not infer the aesthetic superiroity of that medium.  That is an invalid
proof argument.

Pointing to the market, the economic outcome of consumer decisions, is no more
convincing a theory.  That is "proof by example", which is often used by
politicians and math students struggling through their first class in
elementary analysis.  Such data should be left to statisticians and market
analysts.

The dilemma in linking technology to artistic usefullness is that, while
technology is created to fulfill certain functions, and humans attribute
purpose to them, art is essentially purposeless.  I can see no link between 
purely physical, electro-acoustic phenomena of a recording/reproduction device
and some pie in the sky, ideal "sound quality" (and I don't mean faithful
reproduction).  Consider the argument that vinyl adds some immeasurable color
to the sound, impossible to achieve via digital means.  Where are the
irrefutable facts in such an argument?  There are none to support the case.  We
can talk about S/N ratios, audio bandwidth, etc, but until someone comes up
with a unit for aesthetic quantity, the discussion is just a waste of time.

As Kant points out, "All of our synthetic a priori judgments apply only to the
phenomenal realm, not the noumenal."  As much as I enjoy discussing what
qualities make a thing aesthetically pleasing, quite frankly, I'm completely
ignorant as to the _why_.  The ONLY reason for me to prefer one medium over the
other is the choice that I make.  And choices seem to reinforce convictions, so
before you make another value assesment, it is always wise to consider making a
different choice.

Ryan Allen

"Suffering is justified as soon as it becomes the raw material of beauty."
-Jean-Paul Sartre


>          I am sorry, but I am afraid I am going to have to agree with Glen
> on this one....of all the vinyl pressings I had, I can remember only one
> that was crackle free.  You can make up all kinds of excuses up for vinyl,
> but the fact is, when compact disk players arrived for the first time at
> the local hi-fi store here (sometime around 1981, if I remember), I
> considered them a gift from the hi-fi gods, and was more than willing to
> pay the $900 that they cost back then (and that was for what would these
> days be considered a piece of crap).  The market place, I would say, has
> proved the point, just as right now, DVD is rapidly replacing video tape,
> CD's replaced both cassette tapes and phonograph records because CD's are a
> good product.
>
>          But that is also what is great about the world, you don't like
> CD's, then heck, don't buy them.  Who knows, maybe the best vinyl pressing
> is much better that the best CD pressing, but you know, I never saw
> one.  My worst CD is tons better than the best vinyl I ever purchased.