"It is what it is" is a current expression that is in vogue, which implies that nothing can be other than what it is in fact composed of. I mention this to introduce my suggestion that the interested reader should examine the grooves of vinyl recordings known to be all-analog and others known to have been digitally processed by placing them under a microscope or stereoscope.
The digitally-processed record will be very greatly lacking in detail because "it is what it is" and cannot be more than that. The fact that digital audio "is what it is" allows hundreds or thousands of songs - if it is proper to call them that - to be stored in memories the size of postage stamps.
That is to say, it is the very limited, minimal nature of the digital representation that allows it to be stored in such minute dimensions. Again, its limited, minimal nature is why it can be transmitted and downloaded in only a few seconds for an entire composition. Under a stereoscope with good illumination and the proper magnification this limited, minimal nature of the digitalized representation will show up clearly alongside the infinite detail and unbroken continuity of the all-analog recording.
Would the reader like to know my thoughts on the ability to distinguish by ear alone between all-analog and digitalized reproduction? This in itself is a subject I may devote several numbers to.
In the first place I believe it is much easier to distinguish all-analog from digitalized audio in live performances than in recorded playback.
There are numerous live performance venues on Waikiki Beach, and at one of these I felt certain that a guitar duo performing there was using digital processing. I approached the foot of the stage during a break and saw a little digital tone-processing box, which the band confirmed was digital. I said to them that "that digital box is taking all the tone right out of your instruments." I remember thinking their sound had a very limited, minimal, sterile quality.
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