Boosted 20 dB, then cut again

Every record has its high frequencies boosted by up to 20 dB during cutting. Then they are cut again on playback. That alone should end the claim that vinyl is the pure format.

It is not the only compromise. Bass is limited at cutting to stop the needle jumping around, and the boost and the cut add noise of their own. The stylus has mass and cannot perfectly track the groove, especially on the inner grooves, and every physical transfer adds its own distortion, however small.

Before the digital camp celebrates, here is the other side of the ledger. The DAC conversion, the filtering and the way the system reconstructs the waveform from discrete samples all add character. It is not neutral and it is not a transparent window, despite the marketing claims, even though it is measurably more accurate to the master tape.

Why? Because purity was never the real question. Both chains change the signal; the question is which changes make a recording more believable, and that depends on the system first and the pressing second. Each camp is right about the other's flaws and wrong about its own.

Nobody listens to the master tape at home. Argue about believability, or stop arguing.