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[Dave Garoutte]

I wonder if the new popularity of vinyl has to do with a generation raised on MP3s.
The vinyl has to sound way better.

[Luke Geis]

Will report back

[Ivan Beaver]

PS: I learned decades ago about the frailty of human perception (at least my own). I could measure things with my bench test equipment that I could not hear, but never heard something that I could not measure (eventually.. Back in the day I did have to rig up some specialized test equipment).

When people "I can hear it but you can't measure it", they are simply not using the proper tools for the particular task.

It seems that many/most people think that if it doesn't show up on a 1/3rd RTA, then measuring is not as good as their ears.

They simply have no idea what they are talking about, but do it with authority.

[Luke Geis]

Forget vinyl, the new big thing is reel to reel. It is now touted as being the most expensive music format to listen to and get in on. There is now even Hi-Fi R-to-R that is as good as it gets!!!! Forget what you can hear, if you wanna play, you gotta pay.

[Dave Garoutte]

My dad had a wire recorder.
Very cool art deco device.
Maybe there will be a resurgence.

[Lyle Williams]

It is also remarkable how much you don't hear if you are a normal person.

Perceptions about audio quality have a lot to do with the vibe of an event.  A couple of months ago I saw about 500 people having the best time in front of the worst PA.

Those people were happy.  The DJ was in tune with their mood and drove them wild.

95% of those people probably though the sound was great.  The music was great, they had a lot to celebrate.  The sound was utter crap.

[John Roberts {JR}]

It is also remarkable how much you don't hear if you are a normal person.

No we hear it all (the hairs in our inner ear wiggle every for every sound), but the brain post processor discards lots of redundant, or not so redundant data.

We can learn to pick out specific aspects of sound, most likely by ignoring others. Some musicians can have very specific skills at hearing different aspects of sound because of their life experience and training. An orchestra conductor hears the performance differently than you or I. 

Perceptions about audio quality have a lot to do with the vibe of an event.  A couple of months ago I saw about 500 people having the best time in front of the worst PA.

Those people were happy.  The DJ was in tune with their mood and drove them wild.

95% of those people probably though the sound was great.  The music was great, they had a lot to celebrate.  The sound was utter crap.

Listen to old records, some horrible recording quality but great groove. That said I appreciate the improved performance of modern recording media.  I am not thirsty for even better performance, it doesn't seem intrusive now, almost too pristine. But this is just one man's subjective impressions.

JR

[Gert Sanner]

One thing often forgotten in this conversation is processing time ( Latency ). Never mind hearing 96khz. But it processes twice as fast. In todays times when everything goes digital. Desk, Processor, Wireless, etc the accumulation of several units in the signal pass can create Problems.
If you for example take a digital wireless mike, run it into a digital console with a plugin and then into a digital In-Ear to a performers ear, you could possibly create a latency in excess of 5ms.This could pose a problem to performers. Run that in 96khz  and its half that. Which is a massive improvement for the Singer or Drummer. That in return will yield a better performance and therefore a better End-result. There is a good place for higher sample rates in live sound. But that obviously has nothing to do with the test mentioned here.

[John Roberts {JR}]

One thing often forgotten in this conversation is processing time ( Latency ). Never mind hearing 96khz. But it processes twice as fast. In todays times when everything goes digital. Desk, Processor, Wireless, etc the accumulation of several units in the signal pass can create Problems.
If you for example take a digital wireless mike, run it into a digital console with a plugin and then into a digital In-Ear to a performers ear, you could possibly create a latency in excess of 5ms.This could pose a problem to performers. Run that in 96khz  and its half that. Which is a massive improvement for the Singer or Drummer. That in return will yield a better performance and therefore a better End-result. There is a good place for higher sample rates in live sound. But that obviously has nothing to do with the test mentioned here.

As compared to the speed of sound through air, getting to the different microphones.

In-ear monitors matter only because we hear ourselves through bone conduction so there is interference from modest delays.

JR

[Craig Hauber]

Forget vinyl, the new big thing is reel to reel. It is now touted as being the most expensive music format to listen to and get in on. There is now even Hi-Fi R-to-R that is as good as it gets!!!! Forget what you can hear, if you wanna play, you gotta pay.

Sarcasm aside, A Studer A820 Mastering deck is about the best you can get for analog.  1/2" tape, 2-track at 30ips.

-and it is probably the most expensive as $100 barely gets you 20min worth of stock!

Most consumer decks are 1/4" 4-track (2 "sides") gave you you double the track width and speed of a cassette -but with usually better wow&flutter.  And much less compromise in head design and tape handling due to no size constraints.

I have an older Sony deck that's all I have left from that time in my listening life.  All the pro machines were sold off in the ADAT era.
Was just listening to some old tapes over the holidays and discovered that it's developed a brake-pad issue so its easy to dump tape everywhere if stopping after fast winding!

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