S/PDIF jack directly into the brain?
1 Like
Nerve signals are digital arenât they? I know there has been some investigation of this.
Sorry for being off-topic.
1 Like
Not really. You are right that itâs all or nothing in a sense that a given neuron either fires when itâs potential reaches a certain level (specific to the species, -55 mV in case of humans), or not. When it fires, the vast majority of neurons have a chemical output (by definition analog), i.e. it does not transport voltage directly to the next neuron, but releses neurotransmitters which are chemicals, which in turn trigger some (little amount of) electronic voltage on the other neuron.
Because the voltage change on the dendrits (inputs) are small, many inputs need to be summed, and this summation happens kinda like in the analog domain, in the voltage sense, and also regarding time - it returns back to resting potential if nothing happens on the inputs.
Also note that neural networks in computer based deep learning AIs are very different than actual neural networks in animals. Obviously the latter inspired the former, but there are very different principles in action, veery far from being a simulation proper.
4 Likes
Just go listen to songs you like on whatever format you have and enjoy your life. Itâs really important.
2 Likes
I think this video explains it well and hopefully puts this to rest:
1 Like
I only listen to vinyl digitally
2 Likes
How about using an optical turntable?
There was a commercial product that did this in the 80âs according to the article.
3 Likes
The point is, it doesnât matter today on what medium you listen to. It all sounds the same.
Unless you find specific music that is mastered in High Fidelity, which is an extreme niche and exception. Hard to find these days.
All popular music is mastered specifically for streaming services! Pure loudness focus, no care for dynamic range or detail. Since it gets lost in streaming compression anyway.
These same masters end up on your precious vinyl!
Same with EDM. Itâs mastered specifically for Club Sound Systems! Which is also crap and far from high fidelity. Here itâs all about that booming bassline.
Just watch that youtube video I just linked above. He explains it well.
If the source Master is crap, it just doesnât matter what medium you listen on. It will sound crap no matter what.
If the source music is mastered specifically for Vinyl, it will sound excellent. Same with good mastering for CD or High Fidelity wav downloads/streaming.
But sadlyâŚtoday this is just no longer the focus, since there is just no money to be made anymore selling music.
Litterally almost all record stores are bankrupt these days and the ones that still survive, are mostly Online shop present and sell other stuff as main focus (Merchandise, headphones, books, etc), with vinyl records, CDâs, DVD/Bluray on the side.
Almost everyone just streams music and films and not buy actual music/films anymore.
That is the sad truth. No way around it.
PS. I was really interested in these new High Fidelity Sony walkmans and almost bought one, until I actually tried to search for ârealâ High fidelity music availability and then quickly dropped the idea altogether and give up.
1 Like
Just going to say here Tidal Masters sound incredible for digital.
Tidal is a niche and very small player in the streaming business.
The vast majority of their music is just the same as everyone else.
Tidal Masters only has limited amount of songs at most at the moment that are actually High fidelity. So again, very limited and niche!
Again. Most people listen music on their phones, in the car or at home on the small convenient Sonos One wireless speakers.
The mainstream just doesnât hear the difference, since they donât care spending a ton of money on High fidelity speakers or spend 300+ bucks on a Sony walkman and another 600+ bucks on High end headphones.
I just have to laugh at some of my colleagues at work, who spend over 1000 bucks on high end planar headphones and then just listen to Spotify or Apple Music with it. Typical hipsters.
1 Like
No one has mentioned the Direct-to-Disc recordings available in LP. I know i still have a few, jazz mostly. There is no tape mastering, one take recording, and the press run is limited to keep the vinyl pressing quality. A purist sort of deal, but it would still be possible.
2 Likes
Wow pretty weird to see folks in this thread acting so aggressive and mean toward OP⌠they were just wondering if music exists that you can play back in an analogue fashion that has a fully analogue chain behind it⌠why so angry folks? Isnât the idea and question kind of fun? I know that it doesnât have much concrete relevance but sometimes itâs fun just knowing the way that something was made, thinking about the methodology and story of its creation, who touched it, how they felt about it, etc⌠maybe itâs not important by some sort of strict definition, how it sounds to your ear and what sort of differences you can actually hear, but it may be important in some way that is only relevant to the individual.
Shame on anyone tearing into OP like they are some kind of idiot for being curious about this topic!
4 Likes
Well to be honest, the video doesnât really cover anything about our point around dynamic range on vinyl vs. nowadays loudness.
Iâm not trying to corner you into any âhaha gotcha!â or anything, I was simply wondering about this specific line of reasoning you had there. Youâre talking very broadly about audio quality, which is fine, but not what I meant.
2 Likes
@Lauli The point is, with Loudness focused mastering a lot of dynamic range and detail is lost and because of this push it has an even more negative effect when itâs pressed onto Vinyl.
There is a different and very good youtube video out there explaining this, but I canât find it at the moment.
Like someone else explained, when mastering for Vinyl, extra care needs to be taken into consideration to make it sound really good.
But no one cares about that anymore, since the focus is releasing on Streaming media and the Vinyl is just to cater to the current hype and pad the labelâs bottom-line. They literally just use the same master for Streaming services and press that onto Vinyl!
The labels just donât care, as everyone just buys it anyway and wonât hear the difference.
I know. Sometimes a 21st century big player has a Masters. There are quite a few from old school, though. And they sound really great.
Take it for what itâs worth, anyway.
1 Like
Thats an interesting idea but the audio has been compressed by youtube because heâs made it too loud.
You can see this if you right click and go stats for nerds: Volume / Normalized 100% / 79% (content loudness 2.1dB)
You have to be at -1dB for youtube to leave the audio alone IIRC.
1 Like
Personally donât think it should really matter if it hit digital at some point before going to vinyl or tape. Just by the nature of analog recording mediums and play back impart a life to it that isnât really found in digital music and that is what makes those mediums special and more of a âlistening experienceâ. But also a lot of it was because of the methods used with analog recording, having to get stuff in one take, super practiced but still it was never âperfectâ so just interesting oddities would end up in there and become part of the life of a song. Everyone who listens to vinyl or tape has there reason for listening to vinyl or tape, it could be a purely romantic reason like âthis music was never digitalâ (doubt you would actually hear the difference if it was bounced to digital at high resolution at one point, and if you did it would likely because of the Analog side of a DAC imparting color to the sound) or a purely medium based reason like just liking listening to the character these mediums imprint on the sounds and how they change over time and how playback speed is not constant. I would highly recommend checking out the Ways of Hearing podcast or book (the book is really cool) and has some really interesting thoughts on digital and analog with in music and just the world in general.
There is other stuff to consider also with vinyl maybe not being closer to live as it has physical limitations. Digital can repoduce a much wider dynamic range, which will be truer to live while with vinyl or tape you are going to need to master specifically for those mediums to get the best sound.
3 Likes
Think about music? Luxury! Back in my dayâŚ
2 Likes
Yeah but his serious listening face is lossless!
2 Likes
This makes me sad.
Real percussion, a didgeridoo, lots of clapping and chanting and a few psychedelics. Howâd you think it was done for thousands of years before Fruity Loops? 
3 Likes