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RE: Glass CDs

Posted by Charles Hansen (M) on November 5, 2017 at 19:21:34

In Reply to: RE: Glass CDs posted by Dale Clark on November 5, 2017 at 05:27:13:

> > downloading the digital files should technically even be better < <

In theory, yes. In practice it means that you have to have a computer attached to your audio system to play back that "pristine" file. In general, computers are massive generators of EMI/RFI that can couple to your audio system in at least three ways:

1) The direct connection that transfers data. Transformer isolation will reduce this, but even 1pF of stray capacitance is only 160 ohms of impedance at 1GHz. Modern computers run at 4 GHz, and that is all square waves. A 100MHz square wave still has a significant amount of harmonic energy at 10x the fundamental frequency.

2) The computer will also conduct EMI/RFI back into the AC mains and get into your audio system.

3) The computer will also radiate EMI/RFI (especially from any attached cables, although wireless is even worse as it deliberately pumps micrawave radiation into your house/working environment) that will be picked up (especially by cables and cords, which act as antennae).

The bottom line is that the best digital playback I have heard to date does not come from computers, but instead from physical disc transports. YMMV, depending on what experience you have had with what particular equipment.

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