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"equal or superior"

gets my vote.

In the last year or so we finally got our LP mastering operation on line. During that process a lot of myths that I thought were fact bit the dust.

For example the typical LP has plenty of bandwidth- lower than 20Hz and higher than 20KHz (we can do 30KHz pretty easily and our cutterhead was made in 1961). Distortion is mostly a function of playback. This is because it is impossible to overload an LP mastering system- it has more dynamic range than any audio system around, even microphones.

The limitation to dynamic range exists in playback, not record. If the recording engineer is careful (mainly making sure that proper microphone technique is observed), the recorded LP will need no signal processing or limiting to put the signal in the groove.

In our case our stock cutter amps make 125 watts, but by the time the cutterhead is getting about 12 watts you have pretty well toasted it. Yet it can easily cut grooves no cartridge/arm combination could hope to play back.

If the system is set up properly the resulting lacquers are so quiet that the noise of whatever phono preamp is used is actually the noise floor. I have no doubt that the lathe cuts rival digital in that regard. The surface noise comes in during the pressing process. But Acoustic Sounds has modified pressing machines that do not vibrate as the LP is being pressed. We have done some jobs through their operation and the noise floor is spooky quiet- very similar to the lathe cut.

Additionally I have found that a lot of ticks and pops that LPs get blamed for are actually artifacts of the phono preamp and can be substantially reduced with proper design.

Having compared 24 bit 192 KHz sound files directly against the same track on LP the difference is still audible and not subtle- you hear it in 5 seconds flat (this using some of the best digital we could get our hands on- in this case the Stahltek system, which retails for over $75,000 and is one of the very best we have heard). Digital still has a long way to go, and to its credit has gotten a lot better over the years. I have no doubt that it will eventually get there. I think to do that the scan frequencies are going to have to exceed 300KHz and we are a ways off from that right now. The first thing of course will be convincing a digital designer there there is a good reason to do that. That right there will be the hardest part in pushing digital technology to improve- convincing designers that the current technology is still no-where near close.

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