artemistAug 1, 2023

Hot take:
The Compact Disc is still the most futuristic audio format. Forget streaming, files, or the vinyl resurgence, CDs output music at near the top of the quality a human can hear by shooting LASERS at a mirror spinning 8 times per second. This somehow just works and you can read a $0.10 disc with a $20 drive.

When I buy music, I prefer to have it on a CD. I can rip it into my computer easily and if I ever lose that copy I can just rip it again, bit perfect every time. There's no subscription and no DRM that can take it away from me, I have a physical thing.

Show threadartemist

okay, i was trying to not annoy the fictional audiophiles.
The CD is actually the best quality a person can hear. If it's mastered correctly then double blind testing has shown any higher quality to be indistinguishable.

If you listen at a volume where the 96dB of dynamic range is insufficient or you can hear over 20kHz then you are probably listening at such a high sound pressure level that you won't be able to hear for long.

Aug 1, 2023 at 6:51amWeb
Show threadPierre-Luc GagnéAug 2, 2023
@artemist If the cover art was as big as vinyl and you had to drop the laser manually those fictional audiophiles would not exist.
Show threadAndrew Elmore 💽Aug 2, 2023
@artemist I've been working in professional audio in varying capacities for like half my life at this point and it still pains me that more people don't get this. Hi-Fi equipment is a really fun hobby to fiddle with(!) but as far as formats go, CDs are functionally perfect. Compact Discs whip ass. Love me a good Compact Disc. It just doesn't get better. Even SACDs and DVD-Audio or BD-Audio are really only useful for multi-channel surround listening.
Show thread#[deprecated] QyriadAug 3, 2023
@artemist is it archival quality though? archival quality and human perception quality aren't quite the same
Show threadLydia Conwell :firefish:Aug 3, 2023
@artemist Are you telling me that whole vinyl-is-better-quality-than-CDs thing is just bollocks?
Show threadKeith AlexanderAug 3, 2023
@artemist the downside is that, for every album, you have to have a physical thing
Show threadGoing T. MaineAug 3, 2023
@artemist people got so dang mad about CD audio quality vs vinyl for no reason at all
Show threadUrsidinoj/The BjornsdottirsAug 3, 2023

@artemist *starts audiophile reeing about sine waves xe can't even hear being not round enough, or something.*

but seriously. 16/44.1 is pretty much mathematically perfect for anyone over the age of 15 (although I am biased to prefer 16/48, because 44.1 was based on limits imposed by VHS), and 16 or 24/96 is only twice/thrice as hard on data storage.

DSD (1/some MHz, I believe?) is just selling wasted bits.