There continues to be a lot of confusion in amateur and professional circles regarding the subject of high-resolution. One would think that after more than a decade of research, discussion, and debate, we would have an accepted definition of high-resolution audio AND a business proposition to support it. Unfortunately, we’re still stuck in the mire of misinformation, marketing hype, sales pitches, and professional self-preservation. And the sad reality is that there is no hope that high-res audio and high-res music are going to impact the music business or become part of consumer consciousness. The myths continue.<\/p>\n
I came across an article by Steve Guttenberg on c|net titled, “Mastering engineer says the LP is the most accessible high-resolution music format”. The piece was written in 2014 and focuses on a visit the author made to Alex DeTurk’s mastering studio at New York-based MasterDisk (with whom AIX Media Group once had a joint partnership). In the opening paragraph DeTurk is quoted as saying, “Vinyl is the most consumer-friendly high-resolution format around.” And Steve supports that nonsensical claim by stating, “Right, more people are buying LPs than true high-resolution 24-bit\/192 kHz files, the ones that can sound better than CD-quality FLAC or Apple Lossless files. I agree with DeTurk’s assertion, well-recorded old and new LPs, played on a decent turntable care capable of delivering high-resolution sound”.<\/p>\n
BTW This ridiculous claim was contradicted by Sony’s own “hi-res audio” guru Bob O’Donnell, during his “Ask Me Anything” session on AVS Forum last week. When asked if a vinyl LP could be high-resolution, he assured the individual that posed the question that it couldn’t be because it doesn’t exceed the specifications of a CD. This sort of makes you wonder about the veracity of the Hi-Res Audio logo on the front of the new Sony turntable.<\/p>\n
These guys are supposed to be “experts” but apparently haven’t done enough research to know that vinyl LPs can’t even match the specifications of a standard CD. And if you accept the definition promoted by the labels, CEA, NARAS, DEG, and others that high-resolution audio must be “better than CDs”, then clearly Steve and Alex have some explaining to do. Of course, they and other vinyl advocates will revert to the “it just sounds better to me” position without admitting that there’s actually some science involved in evaluating audio fidelity.<\/p>\n
Vinyl is not a high-resolution format and neither are the analog master tapes from which most vinyl LPs are cut. It’s not until you record a new session using 88.2 or 96 kHz and 24-bits that you can potentially make the claim that a given selection is really high-resolution. And even if a recording is made using high-res specifications, there is little chance that you will experience it at that resolution. The record production process these days demands that tracks are “peak limited” and “dynamically compressed” to compete with other new recordings played on the radio and other media. There is so much more to know about fidelity than the numbers that are printed on the spec sheet or the presence of a sanctioned logo on the packaging.<\/p>\n