Rspaight wrote:For that matter, sound is not infinite. It is a vibration with measurable frequency and amplitude characteristics.
I think the argument is that a complex audio/music waveform (as opposed to a pure, steady tone), especially in the case of higher frequencies, cannot be properly reproduced with just a few samples. In other words, music is not composed of a set of simple sinusoidal curves that can be described in terms of frequency and amplitude. That is contrary to one of the fundamental assumptions of Nyquist/redbook, as I understand it.
Ess Ay Cee Dee wrote:The really intense pro-vinyl arguments oftentimes have pseudo-mystical overtones.
Xenu wrote:"Oh, your silly facts have nothing on my assertion that the sound will LITERALLY GRAB YOU BY THE HEAD AND SMACK YOU AROUND YOU HAIRY HOOKER when you play an A1 Steak Sauce pressing." It starts like an argument, and ends like a devotional.
Since music appreciation itself is an emotional experience, and since arguments about bands and songs are inherently unscientific, it's not surprising that some music fans get carried away and start ascribing mystical qualities to their hifi.
I have no issues with that...as long as they don't start using pseudo-science to "prove" something. Namely, that their ears are better than yours and that their opinions are more authoritative than yours.
Rspaight wrote:And after you blow major coin on a mint first pressing of Tommy, naturally your brain is going to desperately want it to be "better" than a $5 CD out of the used bin.
It's amazing how many audiophiles get offended by the suggestion that they are susceptible to the placebo effect. As if placebos only work on weak minded individuals or something.
And even if it was "better," that says nothing about the LP format and the CD format. It just means that you like the sound of one LP, played through a particular set of equipment, better than the sound of one CD.
Amen.