cd sound quality

[ray4410]

just wondering if others have found that some cds especially early ones sound pretty darn good,i do have quite a few target cds they also sound good but a bit hit and miss,also hdcd sound good, I have the equipment which allows me to play sacd,dvd audio more hit and miss especially the ridiculous price they are asking for sacd,i think if you have a reasonable cd player there are heaps of titles for all genres that sound really good on just normal cds,for the record I was bought up on vinyl, spent enough on both hardware and vinyl over the years, wish I had all that money in the bank now, only joking when I think about all the good times and memories music brings us and still does.

Edited January 6, 2020 by ray4410

[Guest kab]

Thats all i listen to these days.

[Irek]

CDP is my main source.

[Guest Muon N']

Yes, I seek out the better ones and these are often the first issues, or early ones, and depending on origin also.

I only do red book as I use a Marantz in non oversampling mode, yet 128x over sampled Rebecca Pigeon's The Raven still plays.

[HypnoToad]

I don't listen to Cd's directly but rip them to my music server and don't even bother with so called hi res files anymore, to my old ears Cd rips sound great. In fact one of my favourites for sound quality is Ray Charles - Genius Loves Company which was recorded in 2003/2004.

[aechmea]

I am a CD listener.

 

I check http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/ to see what might be the best issue of the CD for me.  If there is a choice and a "greener coloured" version is available then I am likely to buy that one.  Sometimes one has to buy what is on offer, though, there being only one version. 

 

Many/most/all of the "red coloured" versions have been mercilessly compressed; so as a general rule it is the mastering with reasonable dynamic range that counts for me.  Much of the old stuff (pre mid '90s) hasn't been tampered with as much as the new stuff (post '90s).  Some modern day re-masters are very good dynamic-range-wise, others are very poor; depends upon who's done the mastering.

 

I have some SACD, HDCD, and Hi-rez but have been pretty much underwhelmed.  Like CD, it all depends on the care and attention in the mixing, mastering.  It tends to be better, but is not guaranteed.

 

I have ripped all of my CDs to hard disk (with multiple backups and off-site storage) but prefer to play the disk rather than faff around with computer audio.

[Danny85]

Personally CDs are my main listening source and have over 1500 in the collection. Seeing as I'm born in 1985 all the music i was raised on from toddler to adult was the age of compact discs and can be found in op shops for 1-2 dollars each. It's always interesting to see what albums turn up! But yes I have found with some CDs just don't sound quite right for some reason. Never noticed as much before until I upgraded to a redgum rcd5enr player which sounds brilliant but also lets me know when a recording isn't at times.

[Ratbob]

Great subject Ray. 

While I’m a newby to the forum I recall the death of HiFi as a hobby, for me about 1986. Experimenting with turntables, platters, mats, tone arms, cartridges, cantilevers, arm heights/tracking weights etc all flew out the window with CD.  We were wooed by the ease, dynamics and silence.

Now I see folks using low res USB files for convenience but man I get inspired too seeing lots of younger folks getting into vinyl.

But on the subject, I’m prepared to take some ragging  here but I still find the old Bendini CD clarifier helps even the worst cd’s sound a tad better.

[davewantsmoore]

4 hours ago, ray4410 said:

just wondering if others have found that some cds especially early ones sound pretty darn good

Sure.

CDs can capture everything that's required for sound reproduction...... so it just depends on the equipment and skill used for recording, of which there is a lot of variability.

 

Of SACD and DVDA, and other formats have different versions of the audio on them.... which is part of the reason they ask a higher price for them  (not that I"m saying the different versions are better, or worth it .... but that's the logic)

[audiofeline]

Many in the audio community are chasing the early CD issues, as they don't have the compression that the modern "remastered for better sound (sic)" CDs tend to have.  The Target CDs have good reputations (although must say that I've never owned one).  However, not all original CDs are great, some have been mastered from multi-gen or record masters, or are even needledrops.  So some recent CDs using masters close to the original may have some added compression but may be much clearer.  You really need to search the forums to see the opinions of those who have done the comparison, the Steve Hoffman forum is full of threads of "what's the best version of xxxxx CD?". 

 

Speaking of Steve Hoffman, his DCC and Razor & Tie masterings are always very special (he's mastered for other audiophile labels on redbook and high-res).  Hard to find now at reasonable prices.  I've liked the HDCD's I've heard as well. 

 

[sloper]

Goodaye all

 

Drives me nuts, the variations in CD recordings varies so much.

l tend too buy old CD's and scrounge friends collections for old stuff.

(yes its the backup copy).

Op shops and beleive it or not car swap meets, l tend to attend a few.

 

Have the remastered version of Sgt Peppers, l found it base heavy and go back to my 80's recording.

But the new mastering of Abbey Road is perfect.

 

regards Bruce

[needlerunner]

5 hours ago, ray4410 said:

just wondering if others have found that some cds especially early ones sound pretty darn good,i do have quite a few target cds they also sound good but a bit hit and miss,also hdcd sound good, I have the equipment which allows me to play sacd,dvd audio more hit and miss especially the ridiculous price they are asking for sacd,i think if you have a reasonable cd player there are heaps of titles for all genres that sound really good on just normal cds,for the record I was bought up on vinyl, spent enough on both hardware and vinyl over the years, wish I had all that money in the bank no I don't what am I talking about that's why we do this ,for the love o music.

I have around 1200 Cds (l stopped counting after a thousand). Some sound better than others. But I've not got one dud CD, where l have thought, that sounds like crap.

 

[needlerunner]

1 hour ago, Ratbob said:

Great subject Ray. 

While I’m a newby to the forum I recall the death of HiFi as a hobby, for me about 1986. Experimenting with turntables, platters, mats, tone arms, cartridges, cantilevers, arm heights/tracking weights etc all flew out the window with CD.  We were wooed by the ease, dynamics and silence.

Now I see folks using low res USB files for convenience but man I get inspired too seeing lots of younger folks getting into vinyl.

But on the subject, I’m prepared to take some ragging  here but I still find the old Bendini CD clarifier helps even the worst cd’s sound a tad better.

What is a Bendini CD Clarifier?

[rantan]

1 minute ago, needlerunner said:

What is a Bendini CD Clarifier?

Yes.

 

I would also like to know this.

[maximus]

  I  can't differentiate how the quality of CD's sounded through the early 80's to present, there has always been inconsistencies in my collection, regardless of what era.

The only thing that's a given is my SACD and ECM CD collection, both sound good to excellent. 

I'm now very keen to try some of the high quality Esoteric Jazz formats recorded by sound engineers

using Esoteric equipment.

 

[Steve M]

It is a total crap shoot out there with CDs and all recorded music for that matter. Sound quality is not determined by the time period, genre or medium it’s recorded on ...there is good and bad in all of it be it vinyl, CD or digital downloads. It is purely about the skill and care taken by the recording studio to keep it ‘natural’ when the music is first laid down.

 

A good recording transcends all, I find even 320 kbps Spotify Premium can sound very good if the recording is good.

 

Steve

 

 

 

.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Steve M

[Ratbob]

Sorry, I posted Bendini but it’s Bedini (damn auto text).

Google up Bedini CD clarifier. 

Snake oil ? I don’t know but I was convinced on the first use. I used to write a hifi column for the Adelaide Advertiser and some shop introduced me to it. Subsequently even Stereophile gave it a positive, but I don’t think they believed it.

It just seems to “clarify” the music. Makes it more dynamic.

I still have my old Zerostat which I don’t think worked but the Bedini got me hooked.

[ray4410]

2 hours ago, Ratbob said:

Great subject Ray. 

While I’m a newby to the forum I recall the death of HiFi as a hobby, for me about 1986. Experimenting with turntables, platters, mats, tone arms, cartridges, cantilevers, arm heights/tracking weights etc all flew out the window with CD.  We were wooed by the ease, dynamics and silence.

Now I see folks using low res USB files for convenience but man I get inspired too seeing lots of younger folks getting into vinyl.

But on the subject, I’m prepared to take some ragging  here but I still find the old Bendini CD clarifier helps even the worst cd’s sound a tad better.

 

[audiofeline]

2 hours ago, Ratbob said:

Sorry, I posted Bendini but it’s Bedini (damn auto text).

Google up Bedini CD clarifier. 

Snake oil ? I don’t know but I was convinced on the first use. I used to write a hifi column for the Adelaide Advertiser and some shop introduced me to it. Subsequently even Stereophile gave it a positive, but I don’t think they believed it.

It just seems to “clarify” the music. Makes it more dynamic.

I still have my old Zerostat which I don’t think worked but the Bedini got me hooked.

The zerostat works, but you need records with static charge.  If your records don't have a static charge, there is nothing for the zerostat to do.  For the extremely rare record I have with static (and it seems it's all or nothing, eg. the plastic inner sleeve is hard to remove due to the static adhesion) the zerostat has removed all the charge. 

 

From what I've read, the Bedini CD clarifier seems like snake oil, as there doesn't seem to be any plausibility to their claims.  And their before/after pic on their site (https://www.bedini.com/clarifier.htm) seems to suggest it reduces dynamic range, which I don't see as plausible or a good thing. 

 

But I noticed improvements with CDs with green painted edges, which many people felt didn't make a difference. 

[Ittaku]

30 minutes ago, audiofeline said:

And their before/after pic on their site (https://www.bedini.com/clarifier.htm) seems to suggest it reduces dynamic range, which I don't see as plausible or a good thing.

Haha

[Be Quiet...Listen]

I've been interested in digital (CD) ever since I heard a CDP sound almost on par with a very nice turntable. And that was it, I was off running!

Want to hear good recordings sound great? Want to hear great recordings sound brilliant? Get yourself a CEC TL0. Game changer!

[Koalabear]

I agree the CEC transports are a game changer.

It will surprise you how much you are missing from Cds.

Forget High  Res files unless recorded in High Res to start with.

Up-sampling and Up-converting is a curse.

[zenikoy]

Enjoyed this DAR discussion on CD as a source.

 

While I haven't a high end player, I'm really enjoying buying a lot of CDs second hand at silly low prices. For CDs this is what 1995 was for vinyl, bargain bins or landfill. You can absolutely be sure that in 10 or 20 years there will be a CD revival, driven by human's desire for tactile objects, nostalgia and plain old contrary hipness. Having recently moved overseas, I shipped most of my vinyl and a few CDs. As I boxed up my remainder CDs and put them into storage, my main feeling was "I'm going to have a great time in 10 or 15 years discovering this collection again. That is never going to happen with my Spotify account.

 

 

 

 

[pcking]

On 6/11/2019 at 4:41 PM, aechmea said:

I am a CD listener.

 

I check http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/ to see what might be the best issue of the CD for me.  If there is a choice and a "greener coloured" version is available then I am likely to buy that one.  Sometimes one has to buy what is on offer, though, there being only one version. 

 

Many/most/all of the "red coloured" versions have been mercilessly compressed; so as a general rule it is the mastering with reasonable dynamic range that counts for me.  Much of the old stuff (pre mid '90s) hasn't been tampered with as much as the new stuff (post '90s).  Some modern day re-masters are very good dynamic-range-wise, others are very poor; depends upon who's done the mastering.

 

I have some SACD, HDCD, and Hi-rez but have been pretty much underwhelmed.  Like CD, it all depends on the care and attention in the mixing, mastering.  It tends to be better, but is not guaranteed.

 

I have ripped all of my CDs to hard disk (with multiple backups and off-site storage) but prefer to play the disk rather than faff around with computer audio.

I have bought many second hand CD's using Loudness War site , wish I new about it earlier . Particularly  when buying Hi Res downloads from sites like HD Tracks ( some versions are appalling )

 

Chers Paul.

 

[Godot]

I'm listening now to Joe Jackson's Jumping Drive. I've had it since the early 80's and I havent listened to it for it years, I can't remember the last time. It sounds great on my SACD player, right now I'm listening to it via Roon / Antipodes EX combo, from a rip to the Antipodes, it sounds fantastic, really good recording. I've also dug out some other classics from Sade, Grace Jones, Miles Davis etc and they are very good. A bonus with Roon is being able to see the dynamic range and the level of compression. I think the most dissapointing in terms of SQ would have to be the CDs from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I like the music but just can't listen to them, the flat compressed recordings are horrible. So yep, old CDs are generally great, as are many recent releases. I continue to buy them both new and 2nd hand. I might be wrong, but I presume the artist actually make more coin from me buying a CD than streaming, I'm all for that.