Dale's question (or I suspect, point made in the form of a question) is
right on the mark.
All electronic systems, analog or digital, have their limits. The
ability to record, reproduce, process, square waves or short impulses
for example, depends on a system's high frequency response and dynamic
range. There is NO technology out there that can record a pure square
wave or infinitely short impulse. Some systems are of course better
than others at recording audio band square waves, impulses, and complex
waveforms with important high frequency content. But whether they are
digital or analog is not the determining factor.
It's a mistake to close our minds to digital audio, and its most
prominently employed sampling methodology, Linear Pulse Code Modulation
(LPCM), just because we might be dissatisfied with CD quality digital
audio (16-bit 44.1 kHz sample rate LPCM).
Regards,
Karl
On 4/11/12 7:04 AM, D. Allen wrote:
> Dale Francis
>
> On Apr 11, 2012, at 2:05, "Andrew S. Hamilton"<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> It's that the pops and clicks are near square waves, in terms of their rise times, and digital can only capture sines. So, it changes the attack and harmonics of the surface noise and makes it ugly, whereas the same noises on the vinyl are easy to ignore and might even be exciting>?< Incidentally, he said this is also why digital fails to deliver, musically, even though it does great telephony, since the combined harmonic overtones of a full orchestra during a fortissimo would approach a square wave on an oscilloscope, but the CD can't make that happen. So, for all its accuracy and quietude, its just a stomp box (LPCM).
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Andrew
>
> Can either a phono cartridge or a speaker can accurately encounter a square wave without side issues ... needle leaving groove ...
--
Karl Fitzke
Audio Engineer
Macaulay Library
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-254-1100
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