More on SACDs.. and supercomputers

[Birgitte Jorgensen <bj@kemmunet.net.mt>]

Thanks, John, for your replies to my original query about the sound
quality of SACD. If it is even half as impressive to my ears as it was
to yours, I am eager to sample it. A pity, though, that no one on the
list seems to have heard the 1981 Goldberg Variations on SACD. I am
curious to know if it yields any hitherto unperceived resonances. Given
the current price tag for an SACD setup, however, it is instead tempting
to buy a copy of the GV SACD and do the rounds of audio showrooms,
asking for demonstrations just to have the opportunity to hear it!

In your discussion of the various formats available in audio and video
playback and recording technologies, you underscore the confusion which
exists in the marketplace and also the all-important economic rationale
which makes mass-market acceptance a necessity for both
researcher/manufacturer and consumer. And, you are correct to assert
that the results are mixed: the consumer isn't axiomatically the
recipient of the best of all competing technologies. To your examples of
Beta vs. VHS and Mac vs. PC, I would add the obvious case of Explorer
vs. Navigator, and Microsoft?s ominous stifling of competition in the
browser market.

Whatever the technological repercussions of the judicial ruling against
Gates & Co., and they may be both positive and negative, the
socio-economic paradoxes of a cascading progression of technology such
as we are experiencing will likely intensify as the pace of advancement
outstrips our ability to properly adapt to its prodigiousness. By adapt,
I mean both our capacity and willingness to pay the cost of upgrading to
cutting-edge equipment every 18 months or so, and also the ability of
the marketplace to transfer the entire canon of recordings to each new
format, which, of course, is what determines whether or not any given
format will thrive or whither.

The ultimate irony in this dazzling and dizzying era of advanced
technology is that rather than concentrating more purposefully on the
art (now known as "content") which it delivers to us in ever more
life-like presentations, we tend to distract ourselves with the race to
keep up with the latest gadgetry. As much as technology has improved and
enhanced our lives, and I believe it has done so immeasurably, it often
runs ahead of itself, leaving us, the ostensible beneficiaries, behind,
or outside the frame, or simply overwhelmed. (How many of us actually
use a fraction of the computing power to which we have easy and
unlimited access every day?)

On the other hand, there is the tantalizing expectation that as the
Internet becomes fully integrated into the electronic structure of our
homes and offices, we?ll have a universal playback unit that will
download recordings, films, books, games, etc. instantaneously as you
hit play. The recording itself (or any data that can be digitized) will
be permanently stored in the appropriate format on a vast server
somewhere, so the format quandary as we now know it simply won?t be an
issue. That would be the Borgesian/Gibson ideal: a vast virtual library
powered by a technology so omnipotent that it is invisible.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I recently sought the advice of a
friend on the topic of SACDs. He is someone I would not hesitate to call
an "expert," much as I distrust that word, because in the 25 years I
have known him, he has never failed to render the type of characters
created by Nick Hornby in "High Fidelity" passive in contrast to his
near-manic enthusiasm for audio systems. (In the days of analog, he made
a strangely compelling ritual out of the meticulous cleaning of vinyl
records and needle before each album playing.) His present system is
worth well in excess of US$100K (though I suspect he is downplaying the
actual value so as not to incriminate himself; i.e., he could actually
make an impact on a Third-World economy with that kind of investment),
but, unfortunately, he lives in New Zealand and I in Europe so I can?t
just pop in and enjoy a regular blast of his obsessively tweaked audio
experience. What he has to say about SACD may be of interest mainly to
people like John and Dorian, who seem to know their way around
sine-waves, but here it is for all:

>Re. our discussion about stereos -- what do you think about Sony's new
SA technology? I'm >starting to see a few SACDs available.
THAT AND DVD-AUDIO ARE THE FUTURE IN THE TOP END, BUT YOU NEED AT LEAST
A $10K+ SOUND SYSTEM TO REALLY APPRECIATE THE ANALOG TYPE SOUND
INPROVEMENT OVER CD. MOREOVER ON THE BACK OF THE FEW SACD PLAYERS MADE
THERE IS A SCREWED DOWN SWITCH WHICH LOCKS IN A FILTER ATTENUATING THE
PLAYERS OUTPUT TO 50K HERTZ. TO REALLY GET THE BEST OUT THE SOUND YOU
HAVE TO REMOVE THE SCREW AND TURN THE FILTER OFF SO THE OUTPUT TO 150K+
OCCURS, HOWEVER ALMOST ALL LESS THAN TOP END AMPLIFIERS EG A/V RECEIVERS
WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IF YOU DO SO AS THEIR INEXPENSIVE TRANSISTERS ARE NOT
FAST ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH THIS HIGH FREQUENCY LOAD. HENCE IT WILL BE
INTERESTING TO SEE THE CONSUMER DEMAND FOR THEM WHEN YOU RISK BLOWING UP
YOUR AMP IF YOU WANT THE BEST SOUND AND ARE NOT PREPARED TO PAY THE $20K
FOR A TOP AMPLIFIER.

Well, a mass-market rush to embrace SACD will undoubtedly lower the
entry price to something less than the price of a new car, but it may be
that by the time that happens, something infinitely better will emerge
from the pipeline anyway. While many of us are willing to pay the price
for genuine technological progress, such as was the case with the switch
from vinyl to CD, I believe SACD will remain, for now, an esoteric
high-end option.

Incidentally, those of you who do not live in the Toronto area will be
pleased to know that the website of L?Atelier Grigorian
(http://www.grigorian.com), which advertises in the GlennGould magazine,
officially launches July 23, but already has many listings online,
including a special Glenn Gould section. In addition to the standard
assortment of Gould books, GG Sony Edition CDs, and GG Sony Collection
videos (the contents of which are described in detail), and the
laserdiscs (speaking of extinct-before-its-time technology), I noticed
that the NFB film "Two Portraits" is now available on DVD for C$34.98.
Perhaps we can look forward to the entire GG video oeuvre being
transferred to DVD soon.

The prospects of future technology fill me with a daunting sense of
wonder, yet consider the idea embedded in today?s New York Times, which
carried a timely article on the impending limits of Moore?s Law, which
states that the number of transistors chip makers can fit on a given
piece of silicon doubles every 18 months. While the physical boundaries
of this particular paradigm are now, finally, in sight, IBM last week
unveiled the world?s fastest supercomputer, thereby superceding the
previous record holder, their own design released just 21 months ago,
which is not solely reliant on silicon lithography. Think of the
possibilities?

According to the Times, it harnesses the "data-chugging power of more
than 8,100 microprocessors" and its achievements "are impressive even to
nonpropeller heads. It would take a person with a calculator 10 million
years to do the number of calculations that the new supercomputer can do
in one second."

Ah, but could it create another Glenn Gould?

Birgitte Jorgensen