No, I'm not trying to establish yet another in the countless series of "digital vs. analog" threads posted everywhere, but instead want to state how the compact disc changed my listening habits forever.

I always liked classical music, but preferred to purchase LP's of more popular stuff (The Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Santana, Pablo Cruise, James Taylor, etc.) because I wasn't familiar with the classics and found listening to popular music more "fun." I also hated the fact that while listening to a symphony on LP, the surface noise (regardless of the quality nor the country of origin of the pressing) interfered tremendously on those long, quiet passages. Trying to listen to the ending of the third movement of Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" was drudgery: it was all but impossible to hear the music over the noise whether the recording was on RCA, or Phillips.

So, out of my collection of about 1,500 records, less 200 were classical. Then, in 1983, I purchased my first CD player (an Onkyo monster, with a retail of $1,000). I expected to be all but blown away by the sound of CD's and the dynamic range, but frankly wasn't, probably since I'd been using a 3-band dbx expander at the time. The Onkyo unit had that characteristic "midrange glare" so common to early CD players, and was deficient in bass. Still, there was one element in which it, and all CD players excelled: absolutely dead quiet background.

Trying to find new CD's in '83 wasn't always very easy, and most of those released were classical, and so I began starting what is now a collection of well over 1,000 classical discs. As the years passed, and I continually up-graded my system, I also continually appreciated what a CD can offer when listening to classical music that an LP plainly and simply can't: non-existent background noise, staggering dynamic range and a sense of depth and clarity I never heard before. I believe this to be not just the realm of digital recording, but the manner in which the entire effort is engineered, and that's where the brand Telarc comes into play.

I've stated before that I'm a great fan of the Telarc label. I often have correspondence with the former president/founder/chief recording engineer, Jack Renner. He and I have discussed the fact that audiophiles "poo-poo'ed" CD's initially for all sorts of reasons, but one of those was certainly the fact that it was all but impossible to "modify" a CD player, as opposed to the myriad of things one could do to modify a turntable/cartridge combination. Many audiophiles felt that nothing was any good in its initial format, and that only by modifications by industry guru's could that piece of gear ever really be any good. And, this just wasn't possible with a CD player.

Still, as I continued to collect classical CD's, especially those on the Telarc label, I began to really appreciate what a CD can do, but which many just don't. I found that many of the early CD's that I purchased on the London/Decca label were excessively bright, far too close-miked, with an "in-your-face" presence that was most unwelcome. Purchasing the same piece on Telarc not only illustrated the enormous differences that exist between one conductor's interpretation of a piece and that of another, but the significant improvement in recording techniques Telarc just about always provided.

And so, in addition to purchasing classical pieces I'd never even heard of before, and getting to really know and like those pieces, I was also becoming just as keenly aware of how different one piece can sound from another, depending on the conductor's point of view. And I owe all this to the invention of the CD.

The closest the Telarc label ever came to a "rock" piece was an 80's recording by a group called, "Papa Doo Run Run," who sound amazingly like the Beach Boys, on a CD called, "California Dreamin'." The first few notes of that disc are mind blowers in illustrating just how good a CD can sound with something other than symphonic music.

Still, even though I enjoy listening to many of my popular records and CD's, my music of choice has become the classics, with a newfound knowledge and appreciation of it due to the manner in which it is recorded on a CD, but in particular, the way it is recorded on a Telarc CD. And, no, I don't work for Telarc either!

I think that those who eschew digital sound (the mod of another forum described CD sound as ranging from "shi**y to merely OK") might think otherwise if they expanded their listening to the classics. After all, they're not called "classics" for nothing!