Is there a thread to discuss music that definitely sounds best on CD?

 

I know it's subjective but, I was listening to Transvision Vamp - Pop Art ( original West German pressing) album on CD last night, whipped out the LP, did a comparison, and the CD definitely sounds better all round to my ears.

Reason - the record is heavily dynamically compressed, not many transients, and the CD sounds smooth and dynamic, but not too dynamic (ear friendly) and very clear with deep bass.

 

Often I find the mastering of records to sound more ear friendly, but this CD is an exception.

 

Anyone else done some comparisons?

 

I guess I'm looking for examples where the CD definitely unarguably sounds better....

Wow, tumbleweeds and cricket noises here..............but I'll chime in with firstly a 'best SQ' CD experience and that is the SACD of Dire Straits 'Bothers in Arms'. Brilliant. Comparison wise, I have the SACD of Steely Dan's 'Gaucho' (which I would place a close second to BIA) and the vinyl (German 1st pressing) of the same. Both are brilliant and enjoyable but if I had to choose, which I do, I would put the vinyl ahead for sheer listening 'pleasure', ie: sonic brilliance with a warmer dynamic....but by no means lacking in dynamics! After all that, I guess that doesn't actually fill the brief of eltec's last sentence.

Edited June 22, 20178 yr by stevoz

 

I lack the conviction for this type of thread, even though I may agree with the title and could give examples. I have been bruised and beaten too often over the years in format battles. These days its whatever floats your boat

Gee this list of CDs that sound better than records is out of control. 

 

I agree with @rantan whatever floats your goat, yes goat.

2 hours ago, rockpig said:

Gee this list of CDs that sound better than records is out of control. 

 

I agree with @rantan whatever floats your goat, yes goat.

Well perhaps there's plenty of us who couldn't give two shits for vinyl so have nothing other but insults like this one to contribute.

Many of us who prefer cds don't have turntables so we lack the ability to perform a comparison. 

 

I have the ( self titled ) Jessica Pratt album on both CD and vinyl. it is one of my most favoured albums and I always use it as a reference album for female vocals. In my system, it sounds much better via CD than LP.

21 hours ago, Cafad said:

Many of us who prefer cds don't have turntables so we lack the ability to perform a comparison. 

Duck!

Let me make this perfectly clear, I am not saying CeeDees or records are better, but currently my PERSONAL PREFERENCE is records.

 

I do have the ability to compare, I own over 1,000 CeeDees and over 1,000 records.

I was a convert from records to CeeDees in 1985 and at the beginning of 2012 got a turntable again and returned to buying mostly records.

 

In majority of samples I have compared (and there are many) I prefer the sound of records, however there are some cases I have found were the CeeDee is preferred over the record.

In many of those cases (not all) the record pressing is not as good as it could have been due to poor mastering/cutting/pressing quality.

 

Examples:

Sabrina Lawrie - Hush The Mountain (June 2017 debut from Brisbane artist)
I prefer the CeeDee (CDr). The record has not been mastered/cut very well so the sound is rather flat and un-dynamic. (pressed by Zenith in Australia done on a tight budget funded by an emerging artist and I give her credit for doing records)

 

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

I prefer the CeeDee.
Seems I lucked out and got the dud pressing done by Rainbo in the USA, not very good, but I have read that the German pressing by Optimal is excellent. But I have the CeeDee and it sounds fine to me.

 

I can say that every Led Zeppelin record pressed by Classic Records is superior to any CeeDee I have compared them to. And I do have many versions of LZ on CeeDee and they all sound horrendous compared to the Classic Records pressings.

 

I play records to listen to the music.

I don't play music to listen to my stereo equipment.