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A challenge to all turntable manufacturers

As I sit here, listening to Miles, Live at the Blackhawk, Vol II, a thought occurred to me. I'm strictly a CD source, all tube component audiophile. While I acknowledge the sonic benefits of a quality analogue source, I cant get past the convenience of 70+ minute CDs, shuffle playback, remote pause and skip, minimal care and feeding, and low cost compared to new quality pressings that CDs offer over vinyl.

However the thought occurred to me that a laser pickup is a technical marvel. If it can read the nano sized pits on a CD, surely the technology exists for someone to make laser pickup to read the hills and valleys of an LP pressing without converting it to one's and zeros. Think of the benefits of no complicated stylus alignment or wear, platter cleaning, etc., The pickup could also be made to read both sides of the LP allowing for continuous play, random, play, skip function, etc. Am I just dreaming? Technology today has given us things never thought possible before. Come on TT manufacturers, get to work. Thoughts?

J.Chip
128x128jchiappinelli

Showing 2 responses by looscannon

looscannon
60 posts
 
The DS system offers no significant  benefit that I can see. You still have a stylus tracing the groove. Tracing the groove is the hardest part not the conversion to an electrical signal. The DS uses modulation of LED lighting and a standard pickup uses magnetic induction of one sort or another. The DS system has less effective mass but the magnetic systems are so small and light that the influence of that mass is in the ultrasonic region. I have not listened to the DS system so I can not comment on the sound but I am not about to spend that kind of money on one without there being an obvious advantage especially when high resolution files leap frog right over it at a major cost savings. 
looscannon
60 posts
 
jperry, I suppose you could read it that way but I meant technical sophistication.
MikeL , I do believe that is a subjective opinion. The techies would say you are listening to distortion that you and many others find pleasing. I listen to records because of nostalgia more than anything else. I have bookmarked my life with records and music. 

There are those that think of digital sound reproduction as segmented, broken up. The data is stored that way but it is not played back that way.
The DAC takes the data and turns it into a continuous wave form. Assuming it is a high resolution file you can not see the difference between the analog waveform and the digitally recreated one. If you reverse the polarity of one signal and add them together all you have left is random noise at a very low level. This would mean that whatever difference you hear, assuming it is the same master is from something that is being added to the signal. What that addition is depends on how you look at it. I look at it as distortion. 
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