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Tom Martin (TAS) and Occam's Razor

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13th Duke of Wymbourne

This review of the Berkeley Alpha DAC by Tom Martin contains some interesting thoughts. He prefaces things with his view of 6 issues in home audio reproduction, one being 'a-musical digital distortions'. The product is reassuringly expensive and the review is positive (shocking!) but one sentence stood out for me regarding the aforesaid a-musical distortions from digital:

"I want to say that when knowledgeable music lovers and audiophiles prefer a medium (vinyl) that has massively inferior distortion, crosstalk, frequency response and noise levels, an open-minded person would see that as a data point suggesting some kind of digital error is prevalent"

DAC technology is such that we have different architectures, different filters and fantastic measurements. And here our reviewer compares it to analog - at least he recognizes that vinyl is very flawed objectively if very enjoyable subjectively. And yet there is no consideration that vinyl's imperfections are what make it enjoyable and that digital's near perfection is not as entertaining. It may not be true but, IMHO, such a consideration is conspicuous in its absence.

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/best-dacs-search-b (Open in New Window)

Follow Ups:

RE: Tom Martin (TAS) and Occam's Razor - Geoffkait 13:34:05 01/12/25 (0)
Actually what he said in the paragraph isn't true. Digital is loaded with noise and distortion. I'm tired of people saying it's not. In fact, digital generally has more distortion and more noise. Yes, I know what audiophiles are thinking, but my system sounds fabulous! The terms knowledgable and open minded are obvious logical fallacies. People think they can outrun it. Lol
"I want to say that when knowledgeable music lovers and audiophiles prefer a medium (vinyl) that has massively inferior distortion, crosstalk, frequency response and noise levels, an open-minded person would see that as a data point suggesting some kind of digital error is prevalent"

Edits: 01/12/25 01/12/25
Vinyl somehow allows the good to stay - hifitommy 13:41:59 12/04/24 (1)
With all of the "defects" that are trumpeted by the digital proponents. dynamics from LP can knock you off the couch and the overall engagement is uncanny and enough to force you to strongly prefer vinyl playback.

I recognize the areas of digital that endear one to its sound like the complete lack of wow and flutter. One comparison can open your ears about digital vs analog. play the CD of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms and then the standard issue on vinyl. that LP simply blows the doors off the CD which completely stymied me when that was my very first CD which I played on a VVG-sounding Magnavox CDP that I bought at Target for $140.

a month later I bought the LP (a cut-out for $1 !) which, when I played it made me completely re-evaluate my understanding of the digital vs analog controversy that was developing. BIA is a digital original recording, mastered to LP for the mass market. It STILL baffles me and many others about how this is possible.

I can understand the preference for the convenience of digital and wonder why you can play the same recording, even with several different phono cartridges, yet they all sound right and are preferable sonically to the digital rendering, whether they are natively analog OR digital.

I also must say that this is my opinion.
...regards...tr
- RE: Vinyl somehow allows the good to stay - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 16:40:47 12/04/24 (0)
  I am of the opinion that vinyl adds nice things. I am also of the opinion that our hearing isn't as 'good' as we think it is and well applied compression is what makes 'dynamics'. Vinyl compresses nicely but digital just gets louder and louder until it breaks (unless compression is added in the mastering). Hence, my point that people just assume vinyl is correct and digital deficient whereby it is likely the other way around but we like it that way. Now, I could be wrong (!) but this is simplest explanation, hence my reference to Occam's razor.
  
  A digitally recorded LP is the perfect example, the vinyl mastering and playback adds something to make it preferable to the original digital master. And, if you've ever made needle-drops you will know how close they sound to the LP. Digitizing captures accurately all the goodness added by the vinyl process.

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