2. misc-audio
  3. 1194498225

Analog vs. digital segment on PBS

The show "Wired Science" on PBS this week has a good segment on analog vs. digital with a relatively quick blind panel test on analog vs. digital. I think they replay the show during the week if you can catch it. Nice to see some of the hobby getting some primetime attention, if PBS can be considered primetime of course! They have a couple recording engineers speaking about the merits of each and a blind listening test between a recording group (whose music they use for the test) and some unbiased recording engineers.
Also some info on frozen brains... either way it's a great show for general technology every week.
jimmy2615

Showing 3 responses by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Jlambrick...I was not aware that people who make CDs took such care. It does make it a lot easier for me to do the same thing on playback because I don't have to adjust gains for each CD.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Shadorne...The compression you talk about is common on pop recordings, but I have few of those. Mostly my recordings, LPs as well as CD, are classical, and there is no obvious compression. Some are quiet pieces for the most part, but somewhere there will be a peak that exercises all the bits.
Cliping of a digital signal is much worse than for an analog signal, but is much easier to avoid.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Albertporter...About the peak level recorded on a CD...I have a unit in my system (Behringer DEQ2496) that indicates the momentary recorded level, and logs the peak observed during the whole CD. I have adjusted gains in my system so as to maximize the signal as it goes through the DEQ2496, and to my surprise every CD I play hits within a few dB of clipping, but no clipping occurs. The recorded level of the CD is obviouly being carefully set (probably by trial and error) to make best use of the available dynamic range. This is similar to what one does when making a tape recording.
More to discover