How close to the real thing?

What percentage of the real think does the microphone capture? What percentage is lost in the cable from the microphone to the microphone preamp? What percentage is lost in the mic preamp? What percentage is lost in the cable from the preamp to the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the cable from the console to the recording device? What percentage is lost in the recording device? What percentage is lost in the cable back to the mixing console? What percentage is lost in the mixing console as EQ and level are adjusted? What percentage is lost in the cable going back to the recording device? What percentage is lost in the cable going to the A/D converter? What percentage is lost in the A/D conversion? What percentage is lost by downsampling to 44.1KHz and reducing the word length to 16bits?

The above is a very simplified version of the recording process and I haven't even got to the playback process. The biggest drop in quality is at the very first stage -- the microphone. There are some marvelous mics out there, but I don't know of any experienced person suggesting that the mic captures more than 50% of the original sound. Being that the losses in quality are additive I suspect that 5% is about right.

Notice how Irvrobinson says all you need is a musician. A single musician? Talk about stacking the deck! Your system may sound "real" with a single musician softly playing a celesta, but can it handle a jazz big band or a full orchestra and choir?

I notice that the people who are claiming current technology is close to capturing and reproducing the sound of a real musical event are severely limiting the conditions where they have experienced this phenomena. It only happens on a few records, only when I'm listening on headphones, only for small groups or solo instruments or only when I have a studio quality tape recorder playing back a tape I made in my own house. So am I to believe that 99% of the time it doesn't sound that real, but all the other times it does?

I think some of you are confusing the fact that you like the sound of your system better than live sound. That's a very different issue than whether your system can so accurately recreate a recorded event such that you cannot distinguish it from the original.

A rhetorical question for Atmashpere -- if the U67 is such a good mic how come they never came at with a U67 Signature or U67 Reference MkII?

Pro audio companies just don't get it!