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Isn't going to happen, at least not with today's technology

LPs have a lot more bandwidth than most people think. Almost any LP playback system has 30KHz bandwidth and many go higher.

Our cutterhead is an ancient Westerex 3D system, built in the late 1950s. It has no troubles cutting 30KHz to disk, and we can easily play it back with low distortion on a Technics SL-1200 with Grado Gold cartridge. We have to look at the waveform on a 'scope of course...

It does not matter that the only thing up there might be noise. The added bandwidth reduces phase shift, which the ear uses to create the soundstage we hear. The rolloff is also fairly benign, which helps reduce phase shift. The sharper cutoff found in many digital recording systems to prevent aliasing contributes to phase shift. This is one reason why digital systems that scan at a multiple of the playback frequency (for example, 88Khz instead of 44Khz) tend to sound better- you don't have to roll off the source so hard.

In a monitor amplifier, to get faithful reproduction, you need at least 2 octaves outside the audio passband (80Khz). That seems to be a reasonable target for digital as well. When it routinely has that kind of bandwidth and storage is easy and permanent, I think we will finally see the LP fade from the marketplace.

The marketplace has kept the LP alive for the simple reason that the market likes it. That is not because its more distorted. Its because its more musical and has a greater sense of permanence. These are the things digital has to overcome if it is to get rid of that pesky LP once and for all.

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