3D printed records sound horrible

This does sound like a good idea, printing out your own LP on one of those fancy 3D printers, but the end result sounds horrible.
Wired has an interesting article showcasing just this. Instructables assistant editor Amanda Ghassaei did just that, namely she printed her out record. Sounds easy right? well be prepared for a bit of work:

"Ghassaei used a state-of-the-art Objet Connex 500 printer to generate the disc. The whole process is possible because printing resolution has finally become high enough to create the audio-laden grooves for the needle to track and amplify. For her printed records, Ghassaei sets the machine to its finest setting, 600 dpi, with 16 micron steps, about the highest quality available on the market. But it’s still far lower resolution than on a vinyl LP, by a factor of 10 or so; hence the muddled sound that results in part from the needle responding to the layering of the printed plastic. Ghassaei used an 11 Khz sampling rate — the highest the resolution would allow, around 1/4 what you get from an MP3. Even at that low of a rate, the printer’s deficiencies cut off the song’s high-range tones."

yeah sounds REALLY bad actually, but hey I`m sure as the resolution of these printers improves so will the sound quality of these DIY records. Pretty cool stuff.

more here