I’m starting this thread because I think the idea will be lost in the existing related threads. Heck, it might get lost here too, but we’ll have to wait and see.
When Bob Carver was trying to prove that he could replicate the sound of anyone else’s amp, he basically processed the same signal through his amp and the candidate amp, and then subtracted one amp’s output signal from the other’s.
When he’d tweaked his amp to the point where the difference was 0, he had cloned the candidate.
This same idea could be applied to the subject problem in the following way.
Play what you consider to be the best digital copy of a recording and capture the file that represents the voltages that present at the speaker’s terminals. Play what you consider to be the best vinyl copy of the same performance and capture the file that represents the voltages that present at the speaker terminals.
Then compare these files in the frequency and time domains. The differences give you something to specifically discuss. And they’re room and listener, though not system, independent.
Of course the differences are probably due to mastering and retrieval issues, but from a very practical point of view, a family of these differences files should allow you to judge how close the digital presentation is to the vinyl presentation.
Has someone already done this?
When Bob Carver was trying to prove that he could replicate the sound of anyone else’s amp, he basically processed the same signal through his amp and the candidate amp, and then subtracted one amp’s output signal from the other’s.
When he’d tweaked his amp to the point where the difference was 0, he had cloned the candidate.
This same idea could be applied to the subject problem in the following way.
Play what you consider to be the best digital copy of a recording and capture the file that represents the voltages that present at the speaker’s terminals. Play what you consider to be the best vinyl copy of the same performance and capture the file that represents the voltages that present at the speaker terminals.
Then compare these files in the frequency and time domains. The differences give you something to specifically discuss. And they’re room and listener, though not system, independent.
Of course the differences are probably due to mastering and retrieval issues, but from a very practical point of view, a family of these differences files should allow you to judge how close the digital presentation is to the vinyl presentation.
Has someone already done this?