[BC] They can't give 'em away!

[Broadcast List USER]

I agree we cannot know what audio quality does to TSL.  I have had  
more than a few arguments with PDs about high frequency limiting and  
clipping.  Most of them were DJs who long ago fried their high  
frequency hearing, and men don't hear high frequencies as well as  
women BEFORE the abuse men take to their ears.

I would argue that we cannot do what they were wanting because we  
didn't want to drive away women.  It nearly always worked, at least  
to some extent.  I have mostly protected my ears, wearing ear plugs  
in loud places, especially concerts, and watching out for what I have  
done to myself.  As a kid, I could hear traffic signal sonar, and the  
motion detectors in stores for the alarm systems, though it is no  
longer that good.  Clipping drives me nutz, though I have been forced  
to use too much under some PDs.

On iPods (or MP3s in general), I can listen to my own rips all day,  
and do.  Then again, I rip at 320 kbps AAC, and while I still hear  
some bad stuff going on, it isn't THAT bad.  HOWEVER, I do plan to re- 
rip my CDs using "Apple Lossless."

Back in the day, I was able to listen to very good recordings done  
with very high sample rate (180 kHz and up) Delta Modulation, and  
compare it with 16 bit linear at 44.1 and 48 kbps.  Too bad we didn't  
go with the harder to explain high sample rate Delta Modulation.  I  
have many Telarc / Soundstream disks on vinyl AND the CDs of the same  
works.  I don't believe it myself, but the LPs sound better (I have a  
Lynn Sondek LP12 turntable with a Keith Monks arm and a verity of top  
arms mounted with several Decca cartridges, plus some Grado and even  
high end Shure arms, followed by a db systems phono pre-amp, which is  
the only phono pre-amp I found that sounds better than the Straight  
Wire Audio cards).

Friends have found the same thing.

Our MP3 sampling rates are FAR too low, as is our CD rate.  Too bad.   
Unless SACD or DVD-A take off, we are forever stuck with audio that  
isn't as good as it could sound.


Then again, if the record companies cannot get their heads out of  
their donkeys, there won't be a record industry to feed my music  
addiction.

On Sep 20, 2008, at 6:00 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 8
> From: Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com>
> 	<20080919170629.30FF762D09 at a-sasl-fastnet.sasl.smtp.pobox.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> ------ At 10:12 PM 9/18/2008, SteveOrdinetz wrote: -------
>
>> Most listeners will just tune away if your audio sounds bad.  They
>> won't necessarily be able to put their finger on why, but if your
>> station is annoying to listen to so they'll go elsewhere.
>
> Exactly! That's one of the major reasons we'll never know for sure if
> digital artifacts contribute to listener fatigue. From my regular
> retailer visits customers I've asked say they can listen to CDs all
> day. They feel the need to take a break from the iPod every once in a
> while. None could explain why.
>
> Rich