Analogue technology can be frustrating – is that part of the appeal?

Audiolab 9000A Integrated Amplifier
Is it something like maintaining (actually the troubles of maintaining) a cast iron engine bullet motorcycle being the part of its charm, character, appeal?
 
alpha1 said:
Is it something like maintaining (actually the troubles of maintaining) a cast iron engine bullet motorcycle being the part of its charm, character, appeal?
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I have never owned the Bullet motorcycle but I would think keeping the (old model) one tuned and all the parts working well did involve constant tinkering.
For audio in addition to tinkering with placement and accessories there is the added upgraditis and the FoMO factors (I have a millennial advisor on current lingo)
The uncertainty of when to accept that Synergy is good/great can be a constant source of anxiety as well.
 
Lizard King said:
Don't forget Fountain Pen, handwound watches, cutthroat razors
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It’s all around us, everywhere! The world is almost completely analog. The digital is making inroads…. Slowly since the discovery of electricity and its utility. And now I am slowly forgetting how to multiply without a calculator, hand write, or engage in conversation without using social media or my magic phone🙂
 
Analog has an advantage - which I believe "all things digital" do not. It is the longevity. MOST analog devices can be practically made to run forever as far as you know the workings.

Take a bullet for example - The carburettor ones, before the computers made their way in. As far as you pampered it & knew how to fix it, it could take you places & I mean it, tried and tested. 1,27,000/- Kms on one of mine, with the engine never been opened. Took me places, broke down way too often, but a fix was always an option. Today I do not own a bullet, no time for the pampering. I have a bike that is considered "mostly reliable" across the world, with people putting close to 3lakh Kms on it and still chugging it around the world. It takes me places too.
****but I do not have the confidence, that if anything goes wrong, I will even be able to figure out - WHAT WENT WRONG. Cause it is completely controlled by computers. I have little knowledge of it's workings. So if it does break down - I have only one solution - put it on a truck.

SO it is a trade off. I am almost always inclined towards the conveniences. And hence sticking to Audio Now, I prefer things digital, convenient. In my case (this is for me - not making an overarching statement about all of audio) the 2 most significant developments in Consumer Audio/video in my lifetime are -
1 - Streaming
2 - DSP

What took me ages to figure out - talking months, 100s of hours or just being frustrated, is today just a day or 2 away, thanks to DSP.

& What can I say about #1 - it is fantastic :)

Again - different strokes for different folks, but I do not think I have the time or energy for "the analog" - I own a digital watch, an electric shaver, Studio monitors with DSP inbuilt being run via a computer connected to a DAC.

But if you CAN love the Analog the way it deserves, there is hardly anything better :) It is a marriage made for a lifetime :) But I guess as humans we do get bored fairly easily :P.
 
Analog has an undeniable advantage on the mastering front for most albums. Digital music uses compressed masters to satisfy radio stations and the masses while analog does not. A simple listen of a high end analog rig vs high end digital rig will make this amply clear. On paper specs, digital is way way better. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The pain of cleaning - that one has to live with.
 
But a lot of vinyl records produced now a days are from digital files?
Maybe the distinction between vinyl and digital is not as distinct as it used to be.
 
Analogous said:
But a lot of vinyl records produced now a days are from digital files?
Maybe the distinction between vinyl and digital is not as distinct as it used to be.
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It is not the format. It is the longetivity of the format. I can bet that most cannot make difference between a good MP3 and DSD. Digital formats are fragile. Just one bit lost and the whole thing goes for a toss. With vinyl, you will miss out few seconds of the song. With CD or digital format the entire song will become unplayable. Every cassete, spool table and vinyl more than 30 years old still play. I have many CDs that do not play because either the plastic has become less transparent or the CD player know doesn't now how to move to the next bit because few bits are unreadable.

My father has marathi records from the 40s and 50s (78 rpm records) that still play. I doubt a CD can last that long. Even the equpments were simpler. They were discrete circuits. Now you have IC that get obsolete in 5 years. You can replace a transistor, capacitor or resistor. You just cannot replace an integrated circuit if it is not available.
 
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Analogous said:
But a lot of vinyl records produced now a days are from digital files?
Maybe the distinction between vinyl and digital is not as distinct as it used to be.
Click to expand...
Yep they are but the masters used to cut the vinyl and the master given for CDs/streaming is different.

In audiophile albums, this is fine - the digital master is also good. However in everything else, the digital master is heavily compressed to sound loud. Dynamic range is like 6-7 dB vs 13-14 dB for vinyl.
 
mbhangui said:
It is not the format. It is the longetivity of the format. I can bet that most cannot make difference between a good MP3 and DSD. Digital formats are fragile. Just one bit lost and the whole thing goes for a toss. With vinyl, you will miss out few seconds of the song. With CD or digital format the entire song will become unplayable. Every cassete, spool table and vinyl more than 30 years old still play. I have many CDs that do not play because either the plastic has become less transparent or the CD player know doesn't now how to move to the next bit because few bits are unreadable.

My father has marathi records from the 40s and 50s (78 rpm records) that still play. I doubt a CD can last that long. Even the equpments were simpler. They were discrete circuits. Now you have IC that get obsolete in 5 years. You can replace a transistor, capacitor or resistor. You just cannot replace an integrated circuit if it is not available.
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A digital music file uploaded on the cloud can stay there forever as long as you are paying for the storage. Digital storage is not limited to CDs or even hard disks anymore.
 
sachinchavan 15865 said:
I’d think a digital file uploaded on the cloud can stay unblemished there forever as long as you are paying for the storage. Digital storage is not limited to CDs or even hard disks anymore.
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True. In my case, many songs that I have aren't available anywhere. Almost all my songs are songs that I own and many are from the 30s onwards. Impossible to find on apple, spotify or google.

Surprisingly many of those songs were available once and then played on the now defunct worldspace. It was very popular in the south. Almost every restaurant had a worldspace satellite receiver. I paid for 5 years subscription and the company went bankrupt. If you have experienced worldspace receivers in the 2000s, you would miss that with the new streaming services. I don't think any Indian song is available from the old times in any of the streaming services. Private songs sung by Pankaj Mullick, Hemanta Mukherjee, Kishore Kumar, etc too aren't available on streaming services. One example is this song which came on youtube just because Lata mentioned the song in a tribute to Pankaj
Singer : Pankaj Mullick, Lyricist :Faiyyaz Hasmi, A non film song is based on Raag Pahadi..Enjoy a divine music,spiritual experience from Pankaj Mullick.

 
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Analogous said:
It’s all around us, everywhere! The world is almost completely analog. The digital is making inroads…. Slowly since the discovery of electricity and its utility. And now I am slowly forgetting how to multiply without a calculator, hand write, or engage in conversation without using social media or my magic phone🙂
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I agree.

Not only in music, in other things too I'm all for retro. My watch is a design that hasn't changed in 50+ years and needs to be hand wound every alternate day. And even in the day of Electronic Medical Records, I diligently sign every document with fountain pen.

Cutthroat razor? Well I haven't had the courage so far.

That said, I'm medium agnostic. I listen to vinyls/CD/steaming... everything.

I guess people adopt the digital vs analog not necessarily because of nostalgia or dogma, but because of convenience. The tactile physical feeling of analog is native to our human ergonomics. Hence there is a backlash against overtly digital dashboard in cars. I doubt the physical sensuality and feedback of running a brush over canvas can ever be replicated by a mouse or a touchscreen. Yet both coexist because of relative merits of both.

I'm writing this sitting in a cab, returning from the airport to home. Could not catch the flight because of cancelation and delay due to massive worldwide Microsoft Windows outrage. Passes were given out manually. Digital, when it fails, it fails spectacularly...
 
Lizard King said:
Cutthroat razor? Well I haven't had the courage so far.
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Shifted from cartridges to double-edged safety razor ten years ago and not looked back (or forward? 😊) since. The entire engagement (changing the blade, lathering up, shaving carefully) is so satisfying… with no razor burn in the end. Also part of the fun is trying blades of different makes and characteristics (sharpness, smoothness, durability, etc) in rotation. And it turns out a lot cheaper (and I imagine environment-friendly) in the end as compared to cartridge razors.

But haven’t been able to muster the courage to try a straight razor yet!

P.S. I miss the hydraulic steering on my former car, the Ford Fiesta so much. Feedback is an important part, apart from the engagement and tactility that older tech provides. Even a fountain pen for that matter. You can actually feel the paper as you write.
 
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Our species can not help innovate constantly. Even if a nicely matured mechanical (pure analog) solution exists a new and often lazy, disposable and wasteful oolution will be invented, marketed and replace a perfectly good product like blades and straight razors before this.
Having said this I would not want to go back to rotary dial phones over my magic phone (As per the late Norm Macdonald)
Indeed this has been a favorite topic of several stand up comedians.
 
Analogous said:
Having said this I would not want to go back to rotary dial phones over my magic phone (As per the late Norm Macdonald)
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From landline phone to mobile phone and from feature mobile phone to smartphone (which might seem magical to some ;)) wasn’t just an analog to digital or classic to modern transition These are different product categories, serving vastly different purposes.For many younger smartphone users today making a phone call is so passé.

Having said that, it’s not only analog/mechanical that is classic anymore. Even early day digital products are released and sought after as classics. For example Casio digital watches from the 80’s. I hope someday plasma TVs make a comeback so that I can consider replacing my 12 year old model.
 
Classic is a polite term for obsolete then? 😊
Still valued for their aesthetics and nostalgia and no availability though

Entire auction industry is running on this
 
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