Mike was awesome. He was a dedicated tape-head.A well-working ATR-100 coming out of Mike's shop was 
about as close to output=input as tape could get. However, even one of those machines has measurable 
wow and flutter (time-smear), and other distortions. As for disk media, there is no system 
completely free from mechanical distortions (no perfect velocity at all times) and no stylus tacks 
all grooves perfectly, and no disk of any material I've ever heard is completely free from a very 
audible background noise floor. Also, only the very best modern phono preamps are free from an 
audible hiss-noise floor (it is possible, using modern instrumentation-grade components, to create a 
near hiss-free background even for moving-coil amplification). If you can get a modern digital chain 
that keeps the jitter tamed and has a good low-pass filter design, and did the right things with 
very low distortion and plenty of headroom on the analog side, you get pretty darn close to 
output=input, even for picky critical listeners. This was definitely not the case in the early days 
of digital mass-media, which is why it got a bad reputation.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Pultz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2015 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hi-Rez symphony recordings, including some MLP, on sale at HDTracks


Remember that excellent hour we spent with Mike Spitz at ARSC Rochester? Later, I had a short talk 
with him, in the course of which he said, "Of course tape has higher resolution than digital..." and 
paused for my reaction. For the sake of non-argument, I just nodded.

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of 
Tom Fine
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2015 3:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hi-Rez symphony recordings, including some MLP, on sale at HDTracks

By the way, if you want to set off a flame-athon, tell the all-analog-to-vinyl crowd that digital is 
"higher resolution" than that tape master. The topic is debatable, but I doubt anyone could win a 
credible argument on the statement that tape recording is closer to output=input than modern 
high-resolution digital. That said, there are listeners, careful listeners with good ears, who 
PREFER the distortions introduced by tape (and vinyl). A personal preference, however, is not an 
argument for what is objectively "better."

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2015 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hi-Rez symphony recordings, including some MLP, on sale at HDTracks


> It's called high-resolution if the transfers from analog to digital are done 24-bit, at least
> 44.1kHz. As you can see, most of these are 96/24 and some offer a 192/24 option.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "L. Hunter Kevil" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2015 2:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hi-Rez symphony recordings, including some MLP, on sale at HDTracks
>
>
>> Many of the offerings cannot possibly be of high-resolution quality or even
>> CD quality. E.g., Karl Boehm died in 1981. His DG recordings of Mozart
>> symphonies derive from analogue tapes, which in many respects cannot be
>> close to CD quality.
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 6:28 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> A 30% discount brings prices down into CD territory, for hi-rez audio.
>>>
>>> http://www.hdtracks.com/specials-of-the-week
>>>
>>> -- Tom Fine
>>>
>>
>>
>
>