How did Denon and Telarc Records help introduce digital recording techniques?

In the late 1970s, Denon and Telarc Records played a pivotal role in advancing digital sound recording by adopting pulse-code modulation (PCM) to achieve a wider dynamic range and higher fidelity in their releases.12

• Denon: This Japanese label pioneered the use of digital recording techniques, taping music via pulse-code modulation.1
• Telarc Records: Based in Cleveland, this company enthusiastically adopted these digital methods in the late 1970s.1

These labels, alongside other audiophile companies like Sheffield Lab, targeted the quality market by producing superior-sounding recordings. Their success demonstrated the viability of digital techniques, eventually leading more than 40 companies—including major labels—to adopt digital processes for their new classical releases by 1983. This shift helped pave the way for the introduction of compact discs, which became commercially available in Japan in 1982 and in Europe and the United States in 1983.1