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CD help!
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| Zombie0729 |
| guys, do Music CD's really make a difference? I mean on a big sound system, playing 256kps from a regular CD compared to a Music CD-R, is there going to be a sound quality variation? I searched but no luck. cheers |
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| auujay |
My prediction.... people on here will say yes it makes a difference.
Is it true? My high school science teacher always said "The great thing about science is you can try it out." |
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| Zombie0729 |
| i just don't understand the technology... |
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| auujay |
Basically mp3s reduce the file size by throwing away information. In order to do this while keeping them sounding good the algorithm "throws out" sounds which which the human ear cannot hear. So it gets rid of a lot of high frequencies and sometimes low ones. If the sound is in both channels (L and R) it will store it as mono (not the whole track just the freqency or something, I am guessing here). It also uses the fact that the human ear cannot distinquish sounds very well after a loud noise, not quite sure what it does with this info :). It does a variety of tricks to try and only toss "unneeded" data.
Basically at the lower bitrates it is more agresive with thi algorithm. I am of the opinion that a CD encoded with the "-alt preset extreme" will sound just as good as the original CD, but what the do I know?
The reason people usually give for why even though it sound good in headphones/on home hi-fi/on computer is that in a club you have the MASSIVE speakers which are reproducing that low end which you feel but do not hear. Because MP3s ditch the info you do not hear, the logic states that you will lose this low end. Of course the argument against this is that most clubs actually do not have amazing sound systems (or if they do the DJs overload them so much you can't tell) so that the sound is so distorted anyway a high quality mp3 is the least of your worries.
Maybe this post will help more than my previous one :D
If you really want to know how the algorithm works I am sure there is plenty of info else where on the web but I think that was a decent intro. |
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| Zombie0729 |
| was a great help, thx u |
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| dj chex |
| another thing, you can easily hear the difference between vinyl and cds in a club setting. Vinyl is able to reproduce bass much better than cds. Also the record needle and vinyl will easily pick up reverbing low frequenceys causing a slightly distorted effect. |
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| Nemesis44 |
Part of that arguement would also be broken vs unbroken waveform. Anything digital will always have a broken waveform and thus it is only a representation of sound as it was and not the actual sound being played back. That's not to say that there aren't any limitations with vinyl but they are less.
Cheers
Nem |
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| Freak |
Club systems emphasise a lot of things.
if you have some crackle on a record, you might barely hear it at home- but on a club system it may sound like a full on chip pan.
Same goes for musical content and transients |
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| razzi |
| quote: | Originally posted by Freak
Club systems emphasise a lot of things.
if you have some crackle on a record, you might barely hear it at home- but on a club system it may sound like a full on chip pan.
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yeah i figured this out the hard way :nervous:
damn annoying |
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| Inertia |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nemesis44
Part of that arguement would also be broken vs unbroken waveform. Anything digital will always have a broken waveform and thus it is only a representation of sound as it was and not the actual sound being played back. That's not to say that there aren't any limitations with vinyl but they are less.
Cheers
Nem |
on the other hand though, if anything digital has a broken waveform, since electronica is essentially digitally made (be it on hardware or software synthesizers) this would mean that the waveform is broken anyhow. the only thing vinyl really would have over a digital audio source is a higher fidelity to how the producer meant it to sound.
so in reality, vinyl is an analog transformation of an originally digital recording. that certain 'warmth' vinyl has, i would guess is just a combination of analog inconsistencies created by the different variables of the environment where it got pressed, is being played, and how it has been conserved. |
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| Nemesis44 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Inertia
on the other hand though, if anything digital has a broken waveform, since electronica is essentially digitally made (be it on hardware or software synthesizers) this would mean that the waveform is broken anyhow. the only thing vinyl really would have over a digital audio source is a higher fidelity to how the producer meant it to sound.
so in reality, vinyl is an analog transformation of an originally digital recording. that certain 'warmth' vinyl has, i would guess is just a combination of analog inconsistencies created by the different variables of the environment where it got pressed, is being played, and how it has been conserved. |
Very good point, but I think that it's worth mentioning that a lot of synths used are actually analogue not to mention that it's the sound source.
Everytime you break up a waveform you loose information.
I know what you are getting at though and I agree. It's also ironic that the industry that is electronically based uses the best format for accoustic music, accoustic who in turn sticks to the digital format. ;)
The fact remains though that vinyl sounds better over a large system.
Interesting note about vinyl and the music industry:
When vinyl was the main format the music giants were actually giving it to us in it's cheapest and lowest sound quality format possible. The old format for albums is a classic example as it has certain rules to follow. Some of you may remember looking at an album and noting that the ballads always used to seem to be at the end of the side. This is partly to do with how the spacing of the groove effects how loud you can have it. The closer you get to the middle of the record the less space you have to play with and thus the more quiet songs ended up there.
The more songs you have on it also the less volume you can have as volume eats space. The louder something is on a record the wider the groove.
45's have better sound than 33's as more information is passed on a 45. Ironically most DJs prefer 33's for handling, especially Turntablists.
When cutting a record there are even frequencies that vinyl can't handle so while it's my prefered format and it does indeed sound better than digital it still has limitations.
I use both formats but still use vinyl more.
Cheers
Nem |
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| Zombie0729 |
| well... i'm not really sure anyone has answered my questoin yet lol... but superb information |
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