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Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
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In Reply to: RE: HDD Quandry posted by J.Mac on July 8, 2008 at 11:00:35:
After much head-scratching of my own, here’s my shot at explaining it.
A computer's internal activity can (a) in a perfect world, proceed without error (b) proceed with errors that are detected and corrected by CRCs, parity bits, etc or (c) corrupt data in a way that cannot be (fault) tolerated, i.e. it crashes.
External activity (output) is a different matter. This is a real-time process with no scope for “send-that-again†feedback.
For example, not even the embedded processor in a printer can correct for degraded image quality due to a fault. The electro-mechanics just have to be up to scratch.
In many high-end industrial devices, the problems over which audiophiles anguish with that odd mix of snobbery and snake oil have to be confronted daily by designers. In particular, timing stabilty has a marked effect on output quality, a phenomenon known to electronics engineers as jitter.
Before I retired, I was involved in computerised origination for the printing trade. The reason platemaking machines (which are essentially big laser printers) cost around $500,000 while a home laserprinter costs $300 is due to their size and their quality.
A large printing plate can require the exposure of 20 billion pixels at a rate of about three billion per minute. If one line out of 150,000 or one row of a similar number is out by two ten-thousandths of an inch, this is readily perceptible and the plate is scrap metal. The control electronics, motors, power supplies etc have to be good, the timing spot-on, vibration tightly controlled and so on. Yes, it’s all controlled by digital signals but the notion that “it is just noughts and ones and what is all the fuss about?†is, to be frank, slightly absurd.
The same is essentially true for audio devices except that the ear is sensitive in ways that the eye is not.
However, there is also a slightly novel problem with PC-audio in that the final “real-time†processing is performed inside the host. The noise, supply fluctuations etc which are (relatively) unimportant in normal computing now become critical for quality.
Anything that addresses that will tend to enhance sound quality by improving the analogue properties of the “real-time†signal. The breakthrough that cics’ CMP2 project makes IMHO is that it does this more thoroughly than hitherto, at least for Windows.
In short, it may or may not be effective to change from this type of drive to that one but it is surely right to look for every avenue to achieve the quietest possible environment electronically for high-end audio. Drive type might just matter. Certainly, giving the soundcard as close to exclusive use of its bus as possible is a worthwhile design goal.
If you’re still reading, thanks for your patience.
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Follow Ups
- RE: HDD Quandry - Ryelands 07:48:22 07/09/08 (1)
- Excellent, excellent post. [nt] - alan m. kafton 09:36:55 07/10/08 (0)
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