[Jukebox-list] Audio question

[Don]

While we are on the subject, I guess it might be coincidental that a friend 
sent me this very interesting link showing iPods and vacuum tube amps. 
Clearly someone figures they can make a buck at this marriage of old and new 
tech.  Enjoy the giggle:

http://www.vuumaudio.com/

Kindest Regards,
Don



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay Hennigan" <jay at west.net>
To: "Jukebox mailing list" <jukebox-list at lists.netlojix.com>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Jukebox-list] Audio question


> David Breneman wrote:
>> --- Ray Finch <babylon at swcp.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> There was some mention before of digitally reproduced sound not
>>> being as good because it is sampled and that the tube amps have a "warm"
>>> sound to them.  I have heard these arguments before...
>>
>>> The "warm" sound of a tube amp is not anything that I have ever
>>> been able to notice.
>>
>>
>> The so called "warm" or (gag!) "phat" sound of tube amps
>> primarily  expresses itself in distortion.  When overdriven,
>> tube amps tend to distort br producing harmonics.  Transistor
>> amps tend to distort by clipping.  If you never drive your
>> amp to distortion there is very little difference in the
>> sound.  As far as sampling goes, the notion that analogue
>> media have "limitless" frequency response is pur snake oil.
>> CDs top out at 20 kHz, which most people over 20 can't
>> hear.  My hearing tops out at about 18+ kHz, and 15 kHz
>> isn't uncommon.  Most LP albums contain nothing above
>> about 17-18 kHz.
>
> Two different discussions here.  Tube vs. solid-state analog amplifiers 
> and analog vs. digital recording and reproduction.
>
> Clipping is a form of distortion as well.  Clipping tends to result in 
> odd-order harmonics.  Push-pull tube amps and some transformer-coupled 
> solid state amps exhibit even-order harmonics when overdriven, which are 
> generally less harsh-sounding than odd-order harmonics.
>
> Uncompressed digital sound reproduction, given a high enough sampling rate 
> and sufficient bits per sample, is going to be as good as analog 
> reproduction.  CDs approach this very well.  Most studio recording and 
> mixing is now digital, even if the end medium is a vinyl record.
>
> Typical MP3 files give up a lot of the music as a tradeoff for file size, 
> and will be degraded.  Someone listening to an IPod through $2 earbuds 
> while jogging on a busy street isn't going to notice it, but critical 
> listening to a decent system will show it.  Sibilants in vocals, cymbals, 
> etc. are noisier and you can hear an aliasing or flanging on some notes.
>
> A Sheffield Lab direct disk pressing on a good system in a decent 
> listening room will literally give you chills.  Occasionally but rarely a 
> good CD will do the same.
>
> --
> Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - jay at impulse.net
> Impulse Internet Service  -  http://www.impulse.net/
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