Vinyl records vs digital music: the battle between high fidelity and high technology

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Vinyl records vs digital music: the battle between high fidelity and high technology [Copy link]

When digital technology became mainstream and replaced analog recording technology and the number of physical records, the sound quality we heard actually declined compared to before. At that time, the sound quality we heard was generally much better than now, whether it was MP3 ripped from CD or purchased from iTunes or other means. For example, an MP3, whether it was ripped from CD or downloaded, or the sampling rate was 192Kbps, it only retained 5% of the data of the record recorded by the tape master in the analog recording studio. You may not notice this difference when listening to music on the street through ordinary headphones, but when listening to the same song on Baibaocheng Audio and Video, it is easy to find that your MP3 is really not good when compared with the CD. Most modern music has enhanced the low frequency, with "heavy bass" and "subwoofer" as the main selling point, but it has obtained a dull mid-frequency, and at the same time lost the large dynamics and details of high-quality music, especially the analog texture is nowhere to be found. Turning to a muffled midrange Years ago I had a large collection of LPs, but for some reason I have been trying to replace them with CDs and digital downloads over the years. I used to be able to hear the vocals up front during the chorus of a song by Judybats, but that is no longer the case, and the midrange has become muddy. The song, which was ripped from a CD at 320kbps, has lost its dynamics, dampened by compression. A song sampled at 320kbps should sound indistinguishable from a CD to the human ear. At least that's how it should be for most people, including me, but with the continuous advancement of technology, the quality of photos and videos has reached the "diamond" level, but the quality of music has gone downhill, especially since the beginning of the development process from analog recording to digital format. What is analog recording technology? In short, it is the work of musicians recorded in a recording studio using 8-track or 16-track tapes. The recording of a song is continuous, and the sound is also continuous, without interruption. On the contrary, CDs are samples of the sound from analog or digital tape recordings. In theory, they can capture a very high amount of information beyond the range that the human ear can distinguish. Steely Dan was the first to try digital format Interestingly, at least for me, the first band I knew to switch to the new digital format was Steely Dan. They had very good record quality and were said to be the best commercial example at the time. They recommended and sold this new format to potential buyers and told them that CDs would not produce popping, electric noise or other noises that vinyl records often have. They also claimed that CDs were not easy to wear out after multiple plays like vinyl records, or that CDs were almost indestructible and scratches and fast forwarding would not cause damage to them. Well, we all know this is a lie. I have re-polished countless damaged CDs. Steely Dan But trouble and controversy arose immediately. There was an audible and different sound to CDs. Some said it sounded colder, as if it were floating aimlessly through the air. I don't remember what my first CD was, but I remember the difference in sound. They all sounded too clear and lacked the warmth of analog records. Now you remember that when stereo technology was first used in music performance and recording, one of the important components was the amplifier/speaker (loudspeaker), and if you ask me what the quality of the speaker should be, it's not just about giving the speaker enough power to push the volume up. We want more than just volume, but more about faithfully representing the high and low frequencies, and the crucial midrange. Mono or Stereo? In the mid-1960s, stereo technology itself was a controversial topic. Many people didn't know that The Beatles recorded in mono, layering multiple sounds onto the same track. Believe it or not, Sgt. Pepper was the first song recorded in mono, but from then on everyone had stereo speakers and everyone expected the sound of a two-track recording. Sgt, Pepper Their producer, George Martin, and the talented engineer Geoff Emerick (who was only 15 when he started working with The Beatles in 1962), were reluctant to go along with the label's stereo requirements, so they simply put the vocals and rhythm guitar on one channel and the bass, drums and lead guitar on another. You can hear the changes clearly through your headphones or earphones. Even today, it's still a bit shocking to hear John and Paul singing in the right channel as George's lead guitar rushes by on the left channel. Most of today's stereo sound systems are integrated into the TV 6.1 surround sound system, and most people don't use speakers to listen to music anymore. Instead, they use computers to download songs from online music libraries, and listening to music on mobile phones has also become a choice for many people. But today's songs are still not recorded for the surround sound system of the cinema effect, it is still based on stereo, so once again the "sound" has been destroyed. Closer to rock There are other high-quality formats, such as the PCM format used when recording CDs, which has a bit rate of 11411kbps. There is also AAC, also known as MPEG-4, which has a bit rate of 256kbps and is the standard format for digital downloads by iTunes and is also the cloud music format for YouTube. WMA, or Windows Media Audio, is also very popular, and finally there is FLAC, a widely used open source lossless format that can be played by almost all players and systems, except Apple, of course. Lossless means compressing the CD to up to 60% of the size without losing data, while lossy means compressing it even more, so the amount of data that can be extracted is limited. Both lossless and lossy compression techniques are used in most of the popular formats today. All of this can and is being debated endlessly between audiophiles, musicians, labels and distributors. Another factor changing playback is the trend of record producers and engineers to compress the sound during recording: more emphasis on bass, bright highs and sheer volume. They make the sound "louder", but there is nothing new and different. Recording engineers have been trying to get a unique sound since the beginning of time, but many people's "craft" is far from that level. Many vinyl records in the past are far better than the average CD today. Mobile phones always dominate If you've read this far, it means you are very interested in this thing. But the fact is that the mobile phone is still the most important personal listening device today. Almost everyone has one, and it has storage space that is extremely cheap. Cloud services allow you to download tens of thousands of songs anytime, anywhere. As long as you have access to the Internet, cloud services such as Pandora, Spotify, etc. can fully meet your daily listening needs.