100% accurate microphone?

[bcpk]

Just posted on Engadget :

The press release on this one is full of superlatives, but somehow most of them seem justified. Schwartz Engineering & Design just announced its Laser-Accurate microphone technology, which promises to provide "pure sound" from a microphone for the "first time ever." It works by detecting the impact of sound on the motion of particles in a stream of air by running a laser across them, and was created by David Schwartz, who holds several digital audio patents, including one that is foundational to the MP3 format (which is, ironically, not a traditional friend to the audiophile). The idea is to avoid the inherent "coloring" of sound due to a regular microphone's physical diaphragm, since the moving particles are virtually weightless. Of course, it seems that a Laser-Accurate mic would have plenty of variables of its own to deal with in regards to the stream of air, but we suppose we'll find out just how tight Schwartz has this thing when it's shown off for the first time in NY next month.

Seems like an interesting concept ... the inventor clearly has the pedigree to make it work.

[thread]

I was about to post this.

Just imagine the kind of recordings that could become possible!

[krmathis]

Interesting!
Certainly will be interesting to see what comes out of this, music wise.

[rhythmdevils]

I'd like to see a stand-off against Joe Grado's new mic's.

The Super Brain vs The Golden Ear

[El_Doug]

this is really neat! i cant wait for a more feature-length article about this microphone, once they get some more work done on it!!!

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils

I'd like to see a stand-off against Joe Grado's new mic's.

The Super Brain vs The Golden Ear

I can already predict the outcome: "While the laser microphone recordings were indeed impressive, they were cold and analytical. The music recorded with the odd-shaped mic made by the 80+ year old guy who has lost his hearing, on the other hand, were so musical, they made me forget I was listening to headphones. They really got my foot tapping, and before I knew it, I was listening through my entire CD collection."

[rhythmdevils]

^ yes