I got a call yesterday from the same guy that spent so much time with me here at the studio investigating high-resolution audio. He’s spent weeks learning about high-resolution audio so that he can digest things into an article that will be completed soon and distributed widely. He had a couple of additional questions for me after speaking to all of the major players in this new recording initiative. He’s spoken to hardware people, digital music download sites, the major labels, Pono, and the developers of MQA. I’m impressed that he’s doing such a thorough job. And I was particularly thankful that he contacted me once again near the end of his research.<\/p>\n
As you might expect, he left our initial meeting knowing about provenance and the campaign of misinformation being perpetuated by the major labels, official organizations, and rock icons. His follow up call was necessary because there was a lot of push back from those parties. The author was armed with a good understanding of the recording process and the conversion of analog tape into PCM digital words. He managed to fend off the silly arguments about how PCM digital is a set of “stair steps” but heard from a major label guy about how analog tape transfers to high-resolution PCM digital bit buckets are capable of capturing the “micro reflections” in the original audio source.<\/p>\n
I have to admit that this is a new one for me. I’ve heard about “low level details”, “micro dynamics” and “analog resolution” but hadn’t encountered “micro reflections” previously. So I looked it up. A Google search turned up a $132.99 book titled “Digital Audio Broadcasting: Principles and Applications of DAB, DAB + and DMB”. The quote from page 286 applied to signal reflections found in transmission systems…and not in high-end audio reproduction. Not relevant.<\/p>\n
The idea of “micro reflections” was brought up in defense of high-resolution audio files made from analog tape. I wasn’t part of the conversation and lack context but it was suggested that transfers of older analog tapes to high-resolution PCM files are better able to maintain the “micro reflections” found in the original performance and captured on analog tape. I guess that means that a CD capture of the same analog tape wouldn’t contain the same “micro reflections”. What is going on here?<\/p>\n
First generation analog tape can deliver about 12-bits worth of dynamic range…around 72 dB at the most. That’s means below that level the hiss and noise inherent in the tape rises above the desired signal (it gets worse after several generations…vinyl LPs are generally from third generation tape copies). The “micro reflections” associated with long reverberation tails fall below the noise pretty quickly on analog tape. And since the noise floor of a compact disc is much, much wider than analog tape, it seems reasonable to assume that all of the desirable “micro reflections” are perfectly captured by CDs and well as high-resolution formats.<\/p>\n
The amount of nonsense being put forth by advocates for high-resolution audio isn’t necessary or helpful. All audiophiles want to know is how was a recording produced and how did it find its way to the high-resolution digital music download sites. Making up justifications and using terms like “micro reflections” just makes the major labels sound confused and dishonest. They’re not the only ones. <\/p>\n
The advocates for high-resolution audio should take a step back and start providing accurate and useful provenance information. Then we can move ahead and build a market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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