Can digital get to vinyl sound and at what price?

[dcathro]

What I find interesting in this interview with Peter Qvortrup is, he is making digital equipment now, but says he improves the sound quality by slowing down the sampling rate. He says (if I understand it correctly) that the quick change of positive to negative in a bit causes a slight overshoot, a distortion, the faster the sampling rate, the greater overshoot distortion. Sort of contradicting the generally held view that faster sampling rates will make digital sound more analogue.

Whether you like his equipment or not, PQ is one of the great thinkers (and characters) in the industry.

 

[Lagonda]

Whether you like his equipment or not, PQ is one of the great thinkers (and characters) in the industry.

Yes ! Silver, silver, silver , silver and more silver what a great thinker !

 

[morricab]

Yes ! Silver, silver, silver , silver and more silver what a great thinker !

That is sound investment advice ...it is currently hugely undervalued...

 

[Mike Lavigne]

MoFi vinyl with a digital transfer step is like waking up in the morning and fixing yourself a bowl of dry cereal, getting the milk out of the refrigerator, and getting ready to pour the milk into the bowl. You look at the date on the milk carton, and see that it is spoiled.

So you put the milk back in the refrigerator thinking to yourself, "maybe it'll be fresh tomorrow."

Nice analogy, except as per your logic you won’t know the milk is spoiled unless you taste fresh milk next to it

it seemed to me to be a perfectly clear analogy. we all can immediately recognize sour spoiled milk, we can smell it too. especially if we use milk every day, but even those who don't commonly drink milk have the dna to smell and taste and recognize spoiled milk as spoiled. it's not subtle. we don't require much of a reference. we are hard wired to recognize it. we are even hard wired to be wary of it being spoiled since we are going to drink it we are naturally aware. it's the most natural unconscious thing to do.

OTOH a digital step is hidden inside music, and it's not jumping out, it's a sin of omission for the most part. not a hold your nose or spitting out sort of thing. degrees of good or pleasant, not revolting.

 

[Rensselaer]

Whether you like his equipment or not, PQ is one of the great thinkers (and characters) in the industry.

I monitor this site to learn the facts, that is my agenda.
PQ says he spent over $100,000 testing neobium resistors against the leading tantalum type and found they sound better (smoother). It is that attention to the little details that make the difference between good and world-class. He pointed out how the faster the digital sampling rate, the greater the overshoot distortion, so for those who think that makes digital sound more like analogue … He says early 78RPM shellac’s where cut direct from the orchestra and singer playing through extended horns direct to the cutting needle, no electronics. Despite the horrendous surface noise, the singing and instruments sound more real than anything today, thus less is more. He said his best (and most expensive) equipment has surprisingly few parts (albeit carefully selected parts).
As I said, my agenda is to learn how to build the very best. Unfortunately, others here have different agendas.

 

[bonzo75]

He says early 78RPM shellac’s where cut direct from the orchestra and singer playing through extended horns direct to the cutting needle, no electronics. Despite the horrendous surface noise, the singing and instruments sound more real than anything today

This is spot on

my agenda is to learn how to build the very best. Unfortunately, others here have different agendas.

This is also spot on.

 

[hopkins]

This is spot on

Have you listened to pre-electric recordings with original playback equipment ? Where?