Jon Hodgson wrote on Tue, 30 June 2009 13:29 |
Ever tried to cut a molecule? I don't think you're going to do it with a chisel (which is effectively what a cutting lathe is).
|
The molecules in the lacquer may refuse to be cut by a mere heated wiggling blade...
...more nitro-cellulose? (;
If I add uncorrelated dither to an analog signal, that would make the signal have slightly more hiss, but I hesitate to call the result quantized audio, since the available amplitude modulation values are still continuous in scope. Any error, as you have said, is heard as part of the noise floor, although at 90 dB into vinyl, I suspect that other surface noises are predominant.
Dither is supposed to be the remedy for the audibility of quantization error. However, in your analogy, the molecular auto-dither is what's causing the "error."
The lacquer molecule apparently randomly shunts the signal to heat(?) at the level of the randomly undulating noise floor of the cutting, in a way which emulates redithered digital audio. I am not trying to keep comparisons between analog and digital from happening, but, to me, the quantization term is a bit (; generous in this analogy (;.
On a(n lp) master, for example, it's physically possible for the output signal to be of any arbitrary value within the dynamic range allowed by the lacquer, at any moment in time, in spite of the fact that the noise floor that is added to it is random, by +/- 1/2 lacquer molecule, when examined at its deep floor level, because the first term in the expression (analog audio) is continuously variable, unlike in quantized audio, so even if the second term in the expression (molecule/no molecule) is a constant, the result is still continuously variable.
Whereas, in quantized audio systems, such as LPCM, or DSD, the peak sample level of the digitized signal can only be up or down by one or more of the same, finite amount(s) from where it was at any given time prior. By the time it no longer is digital, it's no longer quantized. At least that's my layman's usage of the terminology.
Respectfully,
Andrew