Audiophile Musings: August 2012

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The 546: Another Political Commentary

This week looks to be very promising as far and changes in the wind go. People have been arriving for the 2012 Republican National Convention, hurricane Isaac is narrowing its sights on Tampa, I've lost and after 3 days found my car keys in my bathrobe, and I have a new faucet on my bathtub (somehow, the last two must be related). All things are evolving as they should.

I have noticed in what little free time I've had that television commercials have shifted gears in tune with the political wind (maybe Isaac has something to do with that too, but I am no psychic). It appears that politicians are spending way too much money to get their candidate elected and as usual the truth behind the matter is clouded in misdirection and misinformation. I just wanted to re-sync everyone's sanity regardless of political beliefs and make sure that you remember the truth about our great country, the USA, as the founders envisioned it rather than what it has evolved into with lies, half truths, quotes out of context, and the major art of the spin. Before we begin, just remember that like those obnoxious drug ads, any ad you see on television is trying to sell you something so there is an agenda behind what they say, sometimes a multi-level agenda and rarely does it have anything to do with the truth.

The United States of America consists of a form of government that elects representatives who hopefully doing the bidding of the people who elected them. Each state, of which there are 50, chooses these representatives in a staggered election so that every two years we have the privilege of and the opportunity to make positive change if some of these incumbent representatives do not do our bidding as agreed. Every six years, we as the governed can eliminate 100% of those incumbents if for some reason insanity grips all of these officials and the country heads off in a direction that is unwise. This opportunity is called an election.

These 50 states elect officials consists of to two governing bodies, what we call the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members of the House hold two-year terms and members of the Senate hold six-year terms. Decisions on issues are decided by simple majority where votes are supposedly reflective of the will of the people but that's another story and we will leave that one alone for now. There are two Senators per State, 50 States, or 100 Senators. House members are elected based on population however the 1929 Congress decided that the wisdom of our founding fathers was wrong and changed this to a fixed number: 435. So far, we have 535 people who as a group decide every issue our country encounters and how to deal with it. Remember this when it comes to those ads pointing fingers.

Two other people are elected (sort of, but we will not get into the process for this): The President and Vice President every four years, so that makes 537. Now the rest of the bureaucracy is appointed or Federal programs authorized by these elected officials and those with power are of primary concern. The Supreme Court, the last governing body who is supposed to settle legal arguments and interpret these arguments by what the US Constitution defines, has nine members who are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate so that brings the total to 546. There are no other elected people who have the authority to make policy, implement change, and spend tax dollars (those with the real power).

The Vice President's only power is to preside over the Senate and cast a vote in the event of a tie. This has occurred 244 times by 35 different Vice Presidents. So it appears that things can get pretty hot and opinionated and even the Senate cannot make up its mind.

Now the interesting question is this: who decides how raise and spend the tax money (your money)? The President proposes an annual budget but the Congress must approve that budget. So the President and VP immediately drop out from having any authority for spending our hard earned cash. Tax revenue is raised by a select members of the House of Representatives called the House Ways and Means Committee. This group of 37 people decide how Federal funds are raised (see this link). Currently, there are 22 Republicans and 15 Democrats on this committee. So who pays what is decided by these folks and nobody else. These are the people directly responsible for raising or lowering your taxes. If you do not like how you are paying out to the government, then do not vote for any of these incumbents regardless of how you believe they are doing their job.

Then comes the next interesting question: who decides how to spend our taxes? The answer to that is the 38 members of the Federal Budget Committee (see this link). Currently, there are 22 Republicans and 16 Democrats on this committee and their decisions effect how we spend our tax dollars (called the Federal Budget). Their proposed Budget must be approved each year by the rest of the Congress (all 535 members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, not the President or the VP or the 9 Supreme Court Justices). These are the people directly responsible for spending your taxes. If you do not like how your money is being spent, then do not vote for these incumbents regardless of how you believe they are doing their job. (BTW, see www.truemajority.org for a down-to-earth explanation of where your money is going.)

So in your confusion about voting in this year's elections, ignore the nonsense of political banter and emotional advertisements and get back to reality. If you approve the way our money is being raised or spent, vote for the members responsible for this; if not, get these folks out of office and elect someone else who can do a better job. It has nothing to do with party affiliation but rather if those who are in office are doing our bidding. Let's clean house and start fresh.

Six years is all it would take to make complete change. Remember that when you are in your polling booth. We the governed still have the power to effect change if we choose to vote. Regardless of who you vote for, get into your higher consciousness and ask yourself the question: am I better off today as a result of these folks who decide how to spend taxes and raise funds? You still have the power of the vote and if you do not choose to use it, it is your own fault for how your country's policy decisions are made. Just VOTE and use the KISS principle!

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

I do not use ads in this blog to help support my efforts. If you like what you are reading, please remember to reciprocate, My newest title is called Where, oh Where did the Star of Bethlehem Go? It’s an astronomer’s look at what this celestial object may have been, who the "Wise Men" were, and where they came from. Written in an investigative journalism style, it targets one star that has never been considered before and builds a solid case for its candidacy.

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Sunday, August 19, 2012

Better than the Original?

One thing about Pandora Radio (www.pandora.com) is that they can introduce you to new and really great music. I listen to a lot of Norah Jones, especially her first album, and so I put together a station with her name. But this morning I heard what I thought was a new Norah Jones song called "Dream." I was pleasantly surprised to find a new name for my collection.

With a familiar smooth and unpretentious style, the laid-back and deliberately intricate sound of Priscilla Ahn is a refreshing voice on the folk-jazz scene, one whose work I am certain I will collect. Many female voices to me are just more of the same. especially when it comes to pop music and for jazz I have very few contemporary vocalists, male oar female, that I tolerate. But Priscilla has that silkiness and command of her voice that I find intriguing and desirable.

I prefer a voice first of all who does not sing flat or sharp and so hitting those intermediate notes in a complicated measure of music is where I sift out the sheep from the goats. Norah Jones does this in such a fluid manner I could not help but fall in love with her voice immediately upon first hearing. Pausing Priscilla's music, searching the Internet for her name, and then continuing with my audition of her "Dream" performance, I had a similar impression.

One of her trademark characteristics is that she breathes into the microphone as she sings and I find this appealing. Scott Hamilton, an amazing smooth saxophone player, does this with great control and his reed whispers nuances between breaths give something a little extra to a performance making it even more laid back. With many years ahead of her promising career, this technique of singing is sure to be mastered in a similar manner to Scott's.

There are differences between Jones and Ahn, both of which I find appealing and so I cannot say that I prefer one over the other. Norah has more experience and with it a command to her proven style that Priscilla seems to lack. Priscilla has a freshness and a different favor to musical style that holds the ear anticipating the next note and pleasantly surprised when she deviates her vocal style just a bit in the jazz tradition. It's like choosing between two really good wines: it depends on what your having for dinner that matters.

There is something about youth that appeals to jut about everyone where you encourage young hopefuls and Ahn is no exception. Her third album, "A Good Day" is on the Blue Note label, and not available in high resolution formats but well worth a listen. Two others "When You Grow Up" and "In A Tree" are certain to be promising works for you to look back into her evolving style. Although her vibrato is limited, as she grows I hope to hear more of it show up in her work.

You can hear "Dream" at her MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/priscillaahn. Give it a spin. I believe you will be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Impulse Toys

There seems to be a never-ending supply of toys for the audiophile. On of the most novel things I've seen lately is something that has nothing to do with making your system sound better, but rather a conversation piece. It's a watch shaped like an analog turntable.

Now I have to admit that once I saw this, I wanted one. Don't ask me why, but there was that silly part of me that said "This is pretty cool."

Then, I started thinking: sure looks big. But being a lover of analog, I still considered getting this thing. And then my wife added some common sense: "When are you going to wear this?" she said without a moment's hesitation. "To the audio club meetings and...and..."

Well, she was making a very good point. Would I wear it while listening? Maybe, but only for a week or so. Would I wear it to club meetings? Yes, definitely. So that's once a month.

Well, you get the point. We as audiophiles are always on the lookout for that next new little toy, especially one that no one else has. I thought to myself "In all honesty, do you REALLY want this?"

I thought of glancing down at my wrist and chuckling loudly. But common sense prevailed and I resisted. I can hear the difference when I put spikes on my speakers, I am blissed when I add polystyrene capacitors to my crossover network, I am thrilled at a new piece of vintage vinyl, and I am blissed with a new cartridge. But this watch is another story.

Funny how I still think about getting it, so what's that all about? I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic. Wonder if I can upgrade the tonearm...or the cartridge...or...or...

Yours for higher fidelity,

Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Monday, August 13, 2012

Jumping Half Way

If a frog jumps half way out of a bowl each time it jumps, when will the frog jump out of the bowl?

High-end audio is much like this frog. Just like the frog's first jump gets it half way out of the bowl, moving from an MP3 player and earbuds to a CD player in your car gets you half way into the high-end. But when you start listening to the music and comparing it to what other systems sound like, that's where things can get quickly out of control.

The next few hops toward the edge are much the same where there is a lot of bang for the buck. Now that your car stereo is pretty good, you most likely want to have a similar if not superior sound in your home so you invest in your first home system. Normally, this consists of a package that starts as a surround sound system for your television. Here, your XBOX or PlayStation finds new excitement and movies, well it's like discovering a new meaning to what watching a film is all about.

So far the investment is still modest and here is where many folks stop: right at the edge after two or three hops. They're 3/4 to 7/8 of the way out of the bowl but they are happy where they are and choose other avenues for adventure. But for audiophiles, this is just the beginning and more and more hops are necessary - essential in some cases. Typically, you go to a friend's house and listen to their rig. They've been hopping toward the edge now for three more years than you and have accumulated quite a bit of nice gear. As soon as you hear it, you're hooked.

More jumps are now in store but as the bowl edge approaches, so does the steepness of the sides and it costs more to cling to the edge. With fortitude, you plan your next leap and screen possibilities. Usually, this takes the form of the question "Where will I get the most audible improvement?" and the answer is is the speakers. The next series of hops begin.

Speakers, stands, spikes, wires, all find their way into your home and soon your budget changes. What was once allocated to Big Macs and wild weekend adventures is now reapportioned to the new amplifier fund. You begin to look at things you can sell and the old toys begin to move out of the closet and garage. Used equipment becomes a good option and so the next hop comes.

With cleaner power comes more detail and the fact that it goes louder doesn't hurt anything either. Your friend just bought that new fangled preamp and sure enough, you now need one too. After many trips to your favorite audio salon, something that unknowingly has become an occasional stop like going to the movies once was, you decide on a tube risking what you hear against the better judgment of your friend's solid state. When you flip the switch and watch those tubes glow, it's like magic and despite the warmth in the room that taxes your air conditioner, more funds are dedicated to interconnect cables and new software. More jumps toward the edge makes the end in sight and now you are almost there - or are you?

A new Blu-Ray player finds its way to your system and you integrate the television into the stereo. But when comparing the sound to the old CD player, you realize that there is more to those little ones and zeros than meets the eye -oops, the ear. If you buy a high mileage car, you will have more money for your stereo and so a Hybrid appears in your driveway where your old gas guzzler once stood. More jumps to the edge are now affordable.

But the frog is getting older now and with age comes other interests. A companion appears one who hopefully appreciates sound as much as you do. If not, toss that one back and find another; there are a lot more fish in the sea compared to the few truly fine pieces of high-end gear. Another hop.

With a promotion or a new higher paying job comes a bigger budget for the rig. The frog now finds that the edge of the bowl is becoming financially feasible and new speakers appear, monsters compared to the old ones. At least you feel some comfort knowing that the price per pound of your investment is seeing its fruits. Electrostatics may appear or some other exotic blend. More space is needed for the rig and a room is now completely dedicated to the frog. Furniture disappears and strange wall coverings hang in corners and along walls looking nothing like the art work it replaced. But such is the price of getting closer and closer to the edge and the rewards for the compromise, well that's what brings the frog back to thinking about the next jump.

Another friend has an analog turntable, something you've heard about but never paid any attention to - until now. Cancel the trip to Cancun, we're getting a Goldmund! Another jump and you realize that the digital sound is not all that it is cracked up to be, at least at the price point you have invested. CAUTION: ANOTHER JUMP AHEAD.

The new 24-bit player makes its way into the dedicated listening room and the frog is dazzled. Even the sound of the old CDs now improves, but compared to the turntable it still has a way to go. Buying high-end software appeases the frog and is much easier to deal with so the system grows into two pieces: the everyday listening through the digital system and the occasional serious listening to the analog system. The frog justifies this by knowing that each time one of its precious discs is spun, it wears it out so playing digital most of the time preserves the investment. And then the Shibata tip cartridge finds its way into the room. Another hop.

The old turntable was fine but now the cartridge needs to be upgraded to coax out all of its potential. A new tonearm, Litz wiring, and an insanely expensive stepup transformer complete the transition and now music appears where once was noise. Spinning digital now compares somewhat to fingernails on a chalk board and the frog looks for even more. WARNING: MIND THE GAP.

The edge is right there. The frog can see it but it is just out of reach. Another dozen hops or so and surely it will appear. Or will it?

How many hops along the way to the edge of the bowl is your frog? Where do you see the edge of the bowl in your system? How steep are the sides of the bowl and how much has it cost you to cling to its edge?

Just keeping things in perspective folks. Hope you enjoy your next hop as much as I have enjoyed mine. Honey, there's a new...

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Can you say poly-sty-rene?

As many of you know, I am a hard core tinkerer constantly performing surgery on my gear - all of it. In a pair of speakers I built decades ago, I used polystyrene capacitors on the crossover network for the tweeters with very good results. However, the source of these capacitors dried up and I settled for Clarity SA on the tweeters of my current system. While sounding superb in the midrange and bass, the SAs - how shall I say this - lacked the speed and inner detailing that a really high quality capacitor reveals.

Searching eBay, I found a few large value polystyrenes, 150 volt, so I bought enough of them to add up to the required 1.7uF. It was a moment to remember.

In a bit of background, I recently changed out the failed potentiometer of my preamp (aka volume knob) and its top octave came alive. I was thrilled to hear all of the nuances I recalled from the finest ribbon tweeters now delivered through my present home system. But using the Clarity SA capacitors in the crossover network made that part of the chain a weak link. What I heard before the swap was a mild sibilance at the crossover point, not annoying but definitely present.

After the swap, the problem all but disappeared and other interesting things happened. There was a more coherent sound stage and the far left and right corners were amazingly detailed. Top to bottom balance improved and instrument continuity tightened up, especially the stringed instruments. Drums had an improved attack where you can now hear the reverberations of the skins trail off into the echos.

Overall, this is one of the cheapest and best improvements to the sound of my system I have done to date ($20 US including shipping). If you are a tweaker, you may want to look into this.

Now, back to some really great listening...

Yours for higher fidelity,

Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Sandhill Cranes

I live in central Florida where birds are abundant and the weather usually pleasant. Yesterday on my pre-dawn bike ride, I passed a lot adjoining the gold course and there were four sand cranes feeding in the early morning dew. Bright red heads like huge majestic woodpeckers loomed gracefully over an unsuspecting bug or frog and in an instant its long beak snatched up the morsel and swallowed it down. I slowed my pace to watch the others doing much the same, a family unit no doubt. As I drove off, I heard the familiar cackling call coming from behind in an imaginary farewell.

Pedaling a bit further, another small band of these majestic creatures strolled across the road no doubt en-route to a more favorable grazing area. The golf course is a favorite hangout for these huge birds and I have seen as many as 10 gather at once at times in the past. I suspected that these six were now heading off to join the four I had just passed.

Zooming around another turn and up a slight hill, I passed seven more of these long-legged lanky creatures, heads bobbing up and down and eyes fixed firmly on mine. Their burnt-yellow beaks are almost as long as their spindly legs and their feathers mostly gray have an occasional streak of white and black. The wingspan is something to behold as they glide almost silently through the air. They are some amazing birds almost too big to think of them as such.

Morning rides help me slow down my mind and let me appreciate the creatures with which I share this planet. All of us co-mingle here and all of us are important each offering something unique for another. Animals teach us lessons about life; all you have to do is pay attention. These huge birds, for example, demonstrate the importance of community and getting along. Despite their differences, they understand that together they are more than they are alone and the smallest of them is looked after by those bigger. Each is teaching and learning from the other and all thrive as a result. There is peace and harmony in watching such perfection unfold and lessons for the rest of us to learn from their examples.

Have you slowed down enough today to watch and listen? Click here to listen.

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Monday, August 6, 2012

What Not to Hear

It's hard to find peace and quiet when you live in a city or even rural neighborhood. You move away from the hustle and bustle of the inner city to the suburbs where early Saturday mornings can have its ups and downs. Even when you grab that cup of coffee first thing before sunrise to get into the silence of the pre-dawn, the guy behind you is busy mowing the lawn before it gets too hot. I escaped the vast majority of this noise for 21 years by moving way out into the Colorado Mountains, 7 miles from the closest highway and at an altitude of about 9,800 feet. Still, even at this remote location, planes flew overhead, school buses shuffled children, trash trucks bellowed down roads, and the occasional gunshot echoed through the valley from a hunter or someone taking target practice. Face it: life today is just plain noisy and I understand why the early settlers of this continent kept pushing west; they wanted to escape the noise and get some peace and quiet.

I once measured the silence in my listening room atop that mountain and found it to be (from my best recollection) about 23dBa. At this level, if you are still enough, you can put your arm up to your ear and hear the blood pulsing through your veins. If you breathe normally, you can hear the air move in and out of your nose. Then the refrigerator upstairs would turn on or the hot water pump for the baseboard heating would turn on and drown out this amazing silence. As the saying goes "It's always something" and I got used to turning off the heat when I wanted to seriously listen for a long period of time.

Now I live in a small, rural community in the middle of a golf course, and although pretty quiet, still nothing like it was atop that mountain. The challenge one has to hear silence is that the more quiet the background gets, the more annoying everyday conveniences appear.

When I first moved to the mountain, I turned on the stereo I was completely happy with while living down in Denver. But after a few days of unpacking and arranging the system, I noticed the hum coming from the speakers. It was always there, but the background noises of the suburbs drowned out this low-level hum. Now truthfully, it wasn't much, but just as it is with an annoying light, once you notice it, you become obsessed to eliminate it.

The hum was coming from my old McIntosh 2100 power amp as identified by disconnecting the interconnect cables between the preamp and the power amp. This was one of the first solid-state amplifiers McIntosh designed during the transition from tubes so many of the practices used in tube design were employed in this SS model. I had had this amplifier since college so it was now six years old but otherwise functioning flawlessly. So I went to work to find out what was going on.

To make a long story short, it turned out to be internal ground loops built into the design. Changing the grounding everywhere to a true single-point ground configuration made the noise level essentially disappear (started with a S/N ration of about -86dB and ended at about -105dB). What I noticed when I turned it back on and plugged it back in was that yes, the hum disappeared as expected, but something else came alive. I heard details I never knew were there and the only thing I did was eliminate the ground loops in the amplifier.

Years passed and each piece of equipment in my system succumbed to the soldering iron and wire cutters. Each time, this same improvement was observed with no other changes to the system. Taking this a few steps further, I investigated the house wiring, line conditioner wiring, chassis leakage, interconnect cable grounding, and speaker wires for similar effects and each time I eliminated ground loops the results were exactly the same.

What started out to be eliminating an annoyance turned into an investigation in removing effects built-into the system. Some of these can be easily eliminated (house wiring, chassis leakage specifically) but the others require a lot more work and an understanding of circuit designs.

But what I found was that when you eliminate hum, you get to hear more. When you eliminate the hum from everything, you get to hear a lot more. When you eliminate the hum in your system, you need to eliminate the hum in your house. So what you do not want to hear is hum; what you get when you do not hear hum is more music. That's why I wrote the series of articles on Extreme Audio (see links below). It helps step you through getting rid of what you do not want to hear and get into listening to the music.

Yours for higher fidelity,

Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sherlock Holmes & the Sizzling Tweeter

"Watson! Come here quickly! I need you..."

It seems like our silver-eared sleuth has forgotten to clean his ears again and as a result he cannot hear what he is thinking. Much to his dismay, warm yellow stuff is oozing from his right earlobe and collecting itself on his lapel. No matter, a quick warm water rinse and all is well...at least until our hero learns about why his ears were filling up with wax to begin with.

"Turn it down...it's making my head hurt." Sherlock was objecting to the objectionable and over-abundance of sibillance coming from his new super tweeters. It seems that in his haste, Sherlock ran the numbers for the new crossover network to fill in the HF dropout but forgot about all of the rest regarding its design. "That's terrible...turn it off I told you!"

Without another word, Watson dashes to the remote control and in another moment the distant click and subsequent whir precludes by mere nanoseconds the lowering of volume. "There you go, how about some tea?"

Sherlock is appalled but takes Watson up on the offer as he lights up another bowl and sets his stellarly-trained mind to work instigating several alternate crossover models simultaneously while waiting for the fresh brew. "Give me data...more data...I need more data" Watson hears from the kitchen as the tea kettle starts to rumble on the old gas stove. "I'm sure you'll work it out." Watson knows that at times like this, Sherlock just spouts off in any direction about anything until his mind congeals and narrows down the options.

"Phase!" another scream echoes through the halls reaching her as she pours the last drops into her cup. "It must be relative phase causing these fingernails on the chalkboard..." Watson is silent thinking that it would be better to leave well enough alone but deciding to bring a cookie along with the tea.

"Here you go. So what were you saying? I couldn't hear; I was in the kitchen." Watson knows that it is best to ask questions and nod as if she understands - knowing darned welll that phase to her was something children go through in puberty. Instead, the bobble-head could be seen wiggling from across the listening room.

"Do you hear that slight screeching?"

Watson knew that this was a no-win question since if she agreed, Sherlock would ask her to describe what she heard and if she disagreed she would be considered acoustically handicapped demoting her to a position somewhat above a novice audio critic. Instead, the third totally-safe option sprang from her lips, "It sounds fine to me." This neutral but acoustically intelligent response kept her is good standings with Sherlock and at the same time didn't reveal too much about what she honestly couldn't hear nor cared to understand. She preferred to enjoy the results rather than understand the details. "I'm confident that you will work it out." Another safe response instilling confidence and at the same time stroking the huge ego of this master sleuth.

Watson really appreciated Sherlock's efforts and rumor has it that the reason she chose to be with him in the beginning was for his stereo. But alas, over the years she adapted her response strategies to that of this neutral stance and learned to her words in such a masterful way. Her responses also kept Sherlock focused on things that were important rather than the minuscule details and for this the two found a lasting bond.

"Let me think about it..." Sherlock stroked his shin and started a series of mental gymnastics each attempting to find what could possibly be the issue.

Peace returned to the planet, at least for the moment.

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

My other titles include:

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

How to See Infinity

In mathematics, there appears to be a dilemma. Take for example the equation Y=1/X where you allow the value of X to get larger and larger meaning that the value of Y gets smaller and smaller. From this trend, you know that Y will never reach zero, but it will get darned close. Mathematicians believe that, just as there is in fact a zero, there is also an infinity. In this simple equation, at infinity, Y can in fact equal zero.

Enough of the math and let's talk about stereos - but don't forget the math. In the digital realm, math also applies where through a combination of sampling rate and the number of bits in the digital word, a numeric value of an analog signal can be stored for that instant in time.

According to the Nyquist theorem, if you store enough samples at a rate that is twice that of human audibility, then a human ear should not be able to tell the difference between the digital reproduction of that analog signal and the original analog signal. In a nutshell, this is how a digital recording works - or not depending upon your point of view and your definition of the word "works."

The compact disk uses 44,100 samples per second (the sampling rate or SR) and a numeric value of that sound pressure in the form of a 16-bit digital number (called a word). From these digital connect-the-dot approximations, we get very low noise and pretty good quality simulations of what the original analog signal originally was.

Low Digital Sampling Rate

High digital Sampling Rate

The trend in the high-end audio realm is to get better resolution recordings since this pretty good 44/16 standard leaves a little to be desired (dots are a little too far apart). Getting back to the math for an instant, this means that the value of X is 44,100 so the value of Y is again pretty small (about 0.0000022676 or 2.2676 times 10 to the minus 5th power written for short as 2.2676e-5). Recent digital recordings do two things to improve this resolution: increase the sampling rate and increase the size of the digital word. Several standards are now being used, the most popular being 192/24 meaning that the SR=192,000.

Again referring back to the math, this means that the value of Y is even smaller (about 0.00000052083 or 5.2083e-6). So what this means it that as the sampling rate approaches zero, the resolution of the analog reproduced version gets more accurate. If we were to make the SR larger still, the value of Y would get even smaller.

If the SR=infinity, then the digitally stored version would be equal to the analog original, right? So at a value of infinity, the value of Y=0 or Y=1/infinity.

Let's look at this simple equation in a little more detail from the mathematical point of view ignoring Nyquist and his theory for the moment, and see what it is telling us.

At a SR=infinity, the numerically stored signal is absolutely identical to that of the original; anything less than infinity is close, but no cigar. So what this is alluding to is that an analog original signal is the same thing as numerical infinity, right? And any attempt at a digital copy falls short of this regardless of how high the finite sampling rate. So an analog recording is effect a digital recording with an infinite number of samples. BTW, this same argument applies to comparing pure Class A amplifiers and other Classes of amplifiers (B, AB, D, etc.).

When you look at the grooves of an analog vinyl disc, you are looking at what an infinite digital sampling rate is; perfectly sinusoidal with no straight-line connect-the-dots approximation.

Infinite Digital Sampling Rate

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

My other titles include: