Vinyl myths
The idea of a “vinyl renaissance” arose after the first disappointments with the then imperfect digital technologies. People were taught that the sound of CDs contains only a fraction of the information about the original analog signal (which is absolutely true), and this should be offensive to the ears of true connoisseurs of music.
The audiophile code says: if you want real sound, forget about the “dead number” that cuts the sound into pieces, a week warm up the amp and use solid gold connection cables. It is believed that if you digitize a disc with a frequency of several megahertz, you can preserve its “live analogy” and “sound warmth” inaccessible to CDs. For more drama, below is an audio selection of statements by famous and well-respected people on their ideas on sound and on the now-in-fashion “vinyl” theme.
Acoustics, like any other field of knowledge, has developed its own system to measure the characteristics of sound, based on the laws of physics. Audiophiles argue that you should listen to music with your ears, not with an oscilloscope. I agree that the “musicality” of the sound does not always depend directly on the technical characteristics. For example, the effect of thermionic emission in vacuum, in contrast to the movement of electrons through a semiconductor, has linear characteristics and a predictable behavior of the amplified signal. Due to saturation with uniform harmonics, the sound takes on a pronounced color tone, causing the “recognition” effect of musical instruments. Therefore, a tube amplifier, despite the worse characteristics compared to a transistor one, may subjectively sound better. With the help of modern technology, sound can not only be heard, but also seen. A direct visual comparison of the characteristics of different formats will help answer many questions.
As for the connecting cables, which are two electrical conductors, welded symmetrically at the ends, the audio-frequency alternating current moves along them equally in both directions. Since all analog and digital cables are passive conductive elements, that is, they do not have a signal amplifier, then there is no difference when connecting them in either direction.
The gramophone disc format in its current form appeared in the 50s of the last century. Thanks to the use of a new polyvinyl chloride (vinyl for short) made of plastic and fine-grained material, the rotational speed of the record was reduced from 78 to 33 rpm and the width of the track, from 0.14 to 0.055 mm. At the same time, the playback time has increased eightfold and the sound quality has increased dramatically. The name Long Play (LP) is firmly established for the new full-length format. The phonogram is preliminarily subjected to amplitude compression so that the dynamic range matches the properties of the vinyl. This process is called mastering. Then a master disc is recorded, which is a solid aluminum base to which a thin layer of nitrocellulose varnish is applied, on which a soundtrack is formed with the help of a sapphire cutter. Then, through intermediate stages, the plates are printed using high pressure at high temperature. A press die can make 500 to 1000 copies, after which the sound quality drops. Not in vain does the term “first impression” exist which, depending on the point of view, can be interpreted as a successful copy of the disc, or as an instability in the reproduction of the final result.
The nature of sound is such that the energy of the low frequencies is much greater than that of the high ones. To convince yourself of this, simply compare the magnitude of the travel of the woofer and tweeter cones. During playback, the difference in sound pressure levels at the edges of the frequency range exceeds 50 dB, which corresponds to 400 times the amplitude ratio of the lowest and highest sounds. Taking into account the short-term signal peaks, this value can reach several thousand. The record’s microscopic soundtrack isn’t capable of conveying a great dynamic range, and mastering alone isn’t enough here. The signal level at the lower limit is close to the noise of a vinyl base, whose grain structure is comparable in size to the high-frequency vibrations of the soundtrack, which can distort the sound.
To reduce the spread of amplitudes, frequency correction is applied during recording of the master disc: low frequencies are attenuated and high frequencies are amplified, the crossover point is the frequency of 1 kHz. In this case, the difference in pressure levels.
