SUMMER MUSINGS: On the dreaded "Digital Glare" in audio, and conversely, exaggerated analogue evangelism.

A reader E-mailed me the other day asking about what I thought of the dreaded "digital glare" because it was mentioned by a "more subjective reviewer" he was also connecting with.

Basically, I don't believe "glare" exists as a generalizable phenomenon that is somehow special to digital audio. Rather, my guess over the years on how some audiophiles started using this term is that many of the early CDs (not necessarily subsequent remasters) did sound overly bright and harsh. As much as I love the music on The Nightfly (Donald Fagen, 1982), Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms (1985), Dead or Alive's Youthquake (1985), OMD's Organization (1980, 1985 CD release), Culture Club's Kissing To Be Clever (1982, ?1984 CD), ABBA's The Visitors (1981, 1983 CD release), despite excellent dynamic range, the sound of these albums are just "bright", too "thin", a bit "glassy". Perhaps some of this also has to do with the synthetic instrumentation and studio techniques of the time.

For many of these recordings, it appears that the deep bass has been attenuated, but most egregious sonically for me is the "piercing" treble overemphasis especially of synths, and percussions like cymbals and snares; not to the point of a literal inability to appreciate/enjoy the music, though it does result in fatigue over prolonged listening. At least for the Fagen and Dire Straits, this has always been associated in my mind with the sound of the early digital recording process itself. Though many early rock and pop CDs had that kind of sound, things got better within the next 5 years and by the late '80s, even pop like Rick Astley's Whenever You Need Somebody** from 1987 and Rod Stewart's Out Of Order in 1988 were significantly improved. Having said this, some mainstream pure digital recordings from the late '80s like Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session (1988, see this interesting Soundstage! video) remained bright, has noisy "air", and Margo Timmins' vocals are sibilant on tracks like "Misguided Angel" (interesting that Guttenberg highlighted this album in vinyl, describing as sounding like "you were actually there" - yes digital can do that, no surprise). You might recall from comments elsewhere that back in those early days, many ADCs and DACs were simply also incapable of true 16-bit resolution.

At least for the Fagen album, there is some corroboration of this sonic limitation by the engineer - see this excellent article on Audiophile Style by JoshM. Notice the discussion about how the 3M digital recorder was said to be "incredibly bright" perhaps related to the avoidance of the machine's dithering (which upped the noise floor too much).

I have wondered if another source of the brightness and harshness may have been erroneous handling of pre-emphasis in early CD pressings. I mentioned this possibility previously when talking about how to manage digital pre-emphasis in CD rips.

Once we hit the early '90s, the CD sound became consistently more tonally natural especially from some of the boutique labels. Audiophile "classics" like Rebecca Pidgeon's The Raven sounded excellent by 1994 as a standout album, I'm sure in no small part thanks to Bob Katz's mastering work.

I suspect that opponents to digital audio (for whatever personal anachronistic reasons) latched on to the the sound of some of the early digital recordings and just ran with it, creating the impression that this is somehow emblematic of a problem with digital in general for all time.

Folks like Neil Young (as per his usual exaggerated fashion) came on the attack like in this 1992 quote from the 2002 book Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, speaking about his belief about digital sound since 1985:

"—I notice I can’t listen to as much music on CD.

Right. It hurts. Did you ever go in a shower and turn it on and have it come out tiny little ice cubes? That’s the difference between CDs and the real thing—water and ice. It’s like gettin’ hit with somethin’ instead of havin’ it flow over ya. It’s almost taking music and making a weapon out of it—do physical damage to people without touching them. If you wanted to make a weapon that would destroy people, digital could do it, okay?"

Sometimes this shaky (pun intended) rationale for the "digital glare" is attached to the erroneous mention of digital audio being represented as stair-stepped waveforms, echoes of which have followed in how Young misrepresents digital audio as if they're sharp "pixels" (here's an example from 2015 during his promotion of the short-lived Pono). [Yes, as discussed previously, I know some audiophiles and manufacturers seem to prefer stair-stepped playback as with NOS DACs.]

While Neil Young might be talking about analogue including master tapes, a vinyl adherent ("evangelist") like Michael Fremer likewise may have a clear agenda in his audiophile magazine articles, often taking on the mantle of some kind of prophet as the world went digital while he expanded on the same themes and exaggerated on how awful digital sounded (to him) in typical hysterical fashion. For example, it's bizarre that he's OK with digital-to-vinyl but not direct CD playback. There is one very reasonable interpretation to that kind of sound preference - he simply likes the EQ, noises and distortions added by the vinyl pressing process and in his playback chain. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but it isn't high-fidelity reproduction, just be honest with the reader (and himself maybe?)!

Here's an interesting (if not a bit disturbing) video of Fremer being interviewed in 2015:

Notice how he claims he got a bumper sticker that said "Compact discs sound terrible" and started his "campaign that very week"; apparently all from the first time he heard an early pressing of Roxy Music's Avalon (1982)! Hmmm, if you take his words at face value, it seems like his mind was made up very early. This is a sign not of an open mind, but a man who pretty much had a mission from the start (one can read this with a religious connotation, just like "evangelist" - we might talk about that another time). Sorry, but he's like a cartoonish caricature playing out his part for the Industry, and a certain audience.

No folks, vinyl did not win any "war" as the video suggests. As far as the masses of music lovers are concerned (including for myself), PCM-based digital streaming has won the war when it comes to consumption and sheer amount of enjoyment to be had from recorded music. Vinyl and its associated hardware I think is a format that will come in and out of fashion over time as young folks try out something novel, older folks buy for sentimental value, and some making purchases as collectors' items. Vinyl I think will have a tendency to grow in popularity during times of excess and conspicuous consumption, but shrinking in market share at other times.

By the way, I've observed from friends and young folks that have gotten into vinyl over the years that as the novelty fades (usually by a couple of years), there is a realization that sound quality isn't all it's idealized to be even if they've been sold on the "digital glare" claim and as the burden of LP playback eventually results in a return to the norm of digital audio consumption. Not to mention the cost of new LPs these days! A minority might end up loving the ritual of LP playback, but the majority I've seen find it tedious, especially the disappointment when hit with warps, scratches, and manufacturing imperfections (eg. off-center pressings) of the LPs themselves.

While I think there might still be a little bit more in the vinyl gas tank to push this current resurgence, I suspect the vinyl unit and dollar sales numbers will tell the tale through 2022 and 2023 as fatigue sets in (maybe we'll have upcoming SUMMER MUSINGS about this in those years ;-).

When it comes to vinyl playback hardware, we don't see measurements these days for turntables and cartridges often. This is a shame because I think modern audiophiles do need reminders of what the technology is doing. For example, compare the flat frequency response and high channel separation (low stereo crosstalk) of almost any CD player with measurements from a vinyl cartridge such as this 2017 review of the Shure M97xE phono cartridge on Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. Or look at the poor audible time-domain performance of turntables in general as they rotate at the typical 33.3rpm (discussed here). Maybe it is just a given that "everybody" knows that analogue products measure quite poorly, and some folks simply like the stuff regardless; I see this as Fremer's stance, not that he has any special hearing ability nor particularly clear insights about high-fidelity sound (I do enjoy his music reviews however).

I think that something as basic as the frequency response for expensive cartridges like this X-quisite asking north of US$10k should at least be examined in reviews. Sometimes measurements are not just for folks interested in purchasing a device, but can also be helpful if one were to ever doubt the quality of what was purchased and want to measure and compare the performance with what's published - just in case one might have purchased a dud.

One more thing about vinyl... I noticed that the video above was taken at AXPONA 2015. I would encourage people if they have a chance to visit audio shows to have a listen for themselves the differences between digital vs. analogue playback especially with highly-resolving systems. The difference is often not subtle. Since some in the audiophile world idealizes vinyl like that video above (they're trying to make a sale), typically they won't talk about negatives. In reality, as one would expect, the noise level and other distortions of vinyl can be obviously distracting and can diminish the experience of what should be excellent sounding rooms/gear!

I have asked sales reps at audio shows on more than a couple of times to please switch over to digital from noisy, poor resolution records (like at RMAF 2019). I don't recall any company rep ever hesitating to make the switch especially when they see the audience might be getting a little tired of those vinyl distortions.

A fun comparison of vinyl vs. digital... :-) Qualitatively, LPs are less resolving, have less dynamic range, less stereo separation, but have their charms. I find the whole hobby of LP-playback also a more solitary pursuit IMO with all its maintenance and cleaning, Unless you're a DJ spinning wax, I think parties are better with a digital playlist and dance music with lots of deep bass content (a vinyl limitation).

These days, the technical standard to beat for audio playback is clearly hi-res digital (like 24/96 and beyond). As discussed before, other than our dogs and cats at home who probably could tell the difference between 96kHz and one downsampled to 16/44.1 with ease, there's little "need" for hi-res even though I still would not mind having the objectively better digital data when warranted as expressed way back in 2013. "Digital glare" simply was never really a major issue other than in the minds of those who were looking for an excuse to not like digital, believing that quantization of the analogue "must" sound a certain way. Yes, many early CDs did not sound good. Did very early LP releases all sound great?

CD sound quality has progressed far, and I trust these days audio engineers have no problem aiming for natural-sounding albums if they want to. For example, I would say that the majority of classical albums sound great these days, and rock/pop would be better if they didn't dynamically compress so much on so many albums.

Ultimately, it's the skills and intents of the artists and recording engineers that make the most difference to the final sound. In the 21st Century, we have all the tools needed in the digital realm to create, store, and recreate any sound audible to human ears. The particular digital "format" whether it be CD or hi-res, is of a secondary matter. When I listen to music, I prefer accurate tonality, good dynamic range, and low distortions (especially classical, acoustic jazz). These days, my few LP purchases are mainly for sentimental reasons and collectability of the items (packaging, artwork which I try to keep in top condition) rather than the music on the vinyl, which I prefer to enjoy as digital playback.

** My kids told me the other day that "Never Gonna Give You Up" on YouTube surpassed 1 billion views. The '80s are back, baby! ;-)

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Spending some time out in Calgary with family this week. I used to live here until Y2K, on my, how the city has grown over the years:

A view of the Bow River and a bit of downtown Calgary, Canada. Peace Bridge in view.

Given travel restrictions during the pandemic, a wonderful year to check out the great outdoors...

Moraine Lake, Banff National Park. Glacial waters.

Athabasca Glacier at Columbia Icefields, Jasper National Park. As with basically every glacier in the world, this one is receding at an incredible ~70-100'/year. Less than 1/2 the length of mid-1800's now. And clearly smaller than the last time I was here in 2000. :-(

I hope everyone is staying safe and all the while enjoying the music!