Members Mandolin Picker Posted April 13, 2018 Members Share Posted April 13, 2018 In 2016, a European patent filing described a way of manufacturing records that the inventors claimed would have higher audio fidelity, louder volume, and longer playing times than conventional LPs. Now, the Austrian-based startup Rebeat Innovation has received $4.8 million in funding for the initiative, founder and CEO Gunter Loibl told Pitchfork. Thanks to the investment, the first "HD vinyl" albums could hit stores as early as 2019, Loibl said. The HD vinyl process involves converting audio digitally to a 3D topographic map. Lasers are then used to inscribe the map onto the "stamper," the part that stamps the grooves into the vinyl. According to Loibl, these methods allow for records to be made more precisely and with less loss of audio information. The results, he said, are vinyl LPs that can have up to 30 percent more playing time, 30 percent more amplitude, and overall more faithful sound reproduction. The technique would also avoid the chemicals that play a role in traditional vinyl manufacturing. Plus, the new-school HD vinyl LPs would still play on ordinary record players. Read more at HD Vinyl (https://hdvinyl.org/) and Pitchfork.com (https://pitchfork.com/news/high-definition-vinyl-is-happening-possibly-as-early-as-next-year/) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted April 13, 2018 Members Share Posted April 13, 2018 MP3s are scratch proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 Sounds interesting, but I still have questions... You're still (as Craig so colorfully put it) dragging a rock across vinyl, so are there still going to be serious S/N issues? It sounds like the records themselves will still be subject to wear with repeated plays, as well as prone to scratches and noise issues from dust, etc. Will there still be issues with bass reproduction? How about stylus jump from heavy bass panned hard to one side or the other? I suspect these new records will require new playback hardware for best results? While they say that they will be backwards compatible with previous turntables, I'm wondering if improved playback hardware would make a difference in optimizing fidelity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted April 14, 2018 CMS Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 People keep coming up with ways to do things better for the wrong reasons. If you spend 1/10 (I just made that number up) the cost of a hi-res phonograph, you can get a digital system that sounds like what went into the computer that makes the map that makes the stamper that makes the record. But it won't be as much fun to show off to your friends. Fake news. Very bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted April 14, 2018 Members Share Posted April 14, 2018 I'm just greatly amused that increasingly high technology -- if Rube Goldbergian -- solutions, solutions that so often rely on cutting edge science and tech, are indulged in order to pander to the delusions of those who refuse to believe scientific evidence in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlamoJoe Posted April 14, 2018 Members Share Posted April 14, 2018 Boutique guitars, Boutique amps, Boutique vinyl. Tune up.Plug in.Play. if it sounds good record it. If it is good, however you play it back, it will be good. I fell in love with music through a cheap transistor radio with a three inch speaker. The Beatles, The Stones, The Byrds, The Ventures all sounded wonderous through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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