quote:
Would a digital remastering of a presumably original analogue recording destroy the analogue benefit?
I'm no expert on this stuff, but I would guess that it comes down to how the remaster is done, and in particular whether the recording is digitally remastered at a higher resolution and sampling rate (like 24-bit/96kHz), and then used to make the analogue master for the LP BEFORE being compressed down to the cd standard (16-bit/44kHz), or if instead the compressed cd-redbook digital recording comes first and the remastering (and hence LP master) are made after the compression. If the former, then it seems entirely possible that the LP version could come from a informationally richer (= higher resolution) digital recording than what ultimately winds up on the compressed cd version. If the latter, then it indeed seems unlikely that the LP would offer any real benefit.
This is entirely hypothetical; maybe someone here knows whether higher resolution digital recordings are or can be used in mastering LPs as compared with cds?
I can say that I have many '80's classical LPs that were digitally recorded using, I'm fairly certain, the cd standard of 16bit/44kHz, and they sound pretty dreadful; harsh and grainy in the same way that a lot of 80's cds sound, but with surface noise added in. The vinyl adds perhaps a little warmth to these; from the added distortion, probably, or maybe from the lack of jitter invovlved with cd playback. But they're still not very pleasing recordings.
