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« on: April 01, 2009, 12:31:38 PM »
I also would not fear picking Digital over Analog. Analog has a hard road to hoe because it all comes with a catch: WHEN PROPERLY SET-UP, an analog system will surpass most digital systems, but that is a pretty tall order for any machine (and the tech who is burdened by said machine); when properly done, it can be the best of the best.
Back in either 2002 or 2003 (cannot remember), I was fortunate enough to attend the AES in Los Angeles, and while there, I sat in on an audio demonstration where a group of companies (Muse, Avalon, and someone else) were comparing various bit rates and sampling frequencies vs. a 1" 2-track 30 IPS master tape(I think with Dolby SP). They were using a Studer A80 for playback of the tapes live, and had already digitized the tape at various bit depths and resolutions, playing these back from a hard drive and I think DCS converters. They started at 16/44.1 and went all the way up to 24/192 and DSD; granted, both DSD and 24/192 were not fully flushed out at the time and many improvements have been made since then, but the tape destroyed and stomped every digital playback scheme they used. It was my first experience with 30 IPS and one I will never forget.
Although I enjoy classical music and have worked as a stage manager in the past at my College's School of Music (CU-Boulder), only live events were tolerable for me because I always felt like the perspective was off when I listened to CD or even LP, that a distance was created that placed the performers on a very narrow, almost two-dimensional plane, where the pace, timing, and size of the venue space were all distorted or lacking (not as much with the LP but surface noise, ambient temperature, environmental noise, etc. just masked too much detail). I forget the piece they were playing now, but it was the first time I felt like I was truly caught up in the music and could almost feel every move of the performers; also, it finally sounded like it was recorded in a real space, rather than an artificial one. Once they flicked the switch to play the digital files from their hard drive, everything fell apart and the music became less involving. At the end, I begged them to play the entire piece they were demonstrating from the reel without engaging the digital so I could simply enjoy the piece; they tried to switch between the digital and reel again, but once I heard the 'truth', there was no telling my ear otherwise.
It was too bad they did not have a 15 IPS copy of the tape, and even a 7 1/2 IPS copy to compare these against the 30 IPS master, but they figured that everyone there was more likely to be using 30 IPS than any other speed, and for them, they just wanted to see how much fidelity was lost when transferring the tape to digital. The 24/192 files and DSD were close to the master (the DSD just a little closer but a little soft on top), and certainly might have won the day in comparison to 15 or 7 1/2 IPS, but I will ever know.
Cheers,
Bruce
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