The recorded source is digital (most of the time) but the playback is not.
That is what I said too, even explaining the exact reason. No credit for that?
A lot of modern DACS provide a variety of filter options. You can up-sample and then have a very gradual filter that starts rolling off slowly just above 20 kHz. Seems like it only makes an audible difference if the roll-off is significant within the audible range. Steep low pass filters don't seem to do anything bad to the passband.
Does vinyl maintain something that digital destroys? Or, does vinyl add something that digital fails to add? All the evidence points to the latter, which suggests digital could be made to sound like vinyl, while making vinyl sound like digital would be pretty much impossible. For years, I was amazed at how slide film converted to digital always seemed to look better than shots taken directly with digital cameras. Eventually I saw examples of digital camera shots that had been expertly adjusted to look like slide film. It was extremely difficult to tell them apart, and I definitely couldn't establish a preference. The important point, I think, is that adjusting digital to look convincingly like slide film is not an easy task. So if you really like the look of slide film, maybe just shoot slides. And if you really like the sound of vinyl, maybe just spin vinyl.
yes. but......"destroys" is too harsh a word. more like less musical essence and realism with every digital process applied. it misses stuff. but hearing the best possible digital much less is missing. just less of good things. digital is evolving.
yes, somewhat. a bit of noise, but you can hear around that noise because unlike digital with analog the limits are very soft and variable. there is also a touch of vinyl character added; but it's variable based on the recording/mastering process and is mostly slight
at digital's best it's likely slightly more like tape as far as character. it can be clean like tape.....at the very top of digital. the best digital finishes notes and has weight like vinyl, just lesser by degrees. but vinyl has a higher ceiling for those magical moments, and goes there quite a bit with the best pressings. the best digital has taken big steps forward in realism, but not where the best vinyl is.
why would you want that? you would need to subtract upper frequency weight and tonal density. subtract top end purity.
as a learning photographer it seems like all things are possible visually with all the very highly developed noise reduction and Photoshop related tools. and now even A.I. interfaces.
I've used a lot of different filter designs, upsampling, high sample rate PCM and DSD. Steep filters definitely have an effect on the passband, esp true brick wall filters. Even upsampling DACs have to use steep filters for the first sample rate conversion stage.
Here's an interesting video where a guy presses it to the limit - up to 400 clone cycles, which means he converts from digital to analog, back to digital, back to analog ...... 400 times! You can hear what it does to the sound.
It could be argued that 99% or more of the damage occurs on the first A/D conversion. Subsequent D/A to A/D steps will then sound pretty similar thereafter. If that's the case, then A/D to D/A steps added to a digital recording will not be as damaging as when done with a pure analog source.
there are always going to be similar threads going on at the same time. also; within each thread there are numerous separate narratives going on.
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