CD Quality

[Dave Lindhorst]

I have just bought a new CD player (Arcam CD73) and now when listening to CDs I am very critical. I can tell if they sound good or bad about 20 seconds into the song. I am finding that some of the CDs I used to listen to and thought weren't bad now are. The ones I now find to be good are very much better than they were before. As a matter of fact I can't believe how beautiful they sound. It's the bad ones I wish I didn't own now.

What I want to know is if this is a personal perception or is this a common thing to have happen when finally getting a decent CD player?

[paul_pci]

I have just bought a new CD player (Arcam CD73) and now when listening to CDs I am very critical. I can tell if they sound good or bad about 20 seconds into the song. I am finding that some of the CDs I used to listen to and thought weren't bad now are. The ones I now find to be good are very much better than they were before. As a matter of fact I can't believe how beautiful they sound. It's the bad ones I wish I didn't own now.

What I want to know is if this is a personal perception or is this a common thing to have happen when finally getting a decent CD player?

Yes, it's common. More revealing equipment, be ti players or speakers (usually speakers), will reveal the recording for what it is: crap or astonishing.

[Geoffcin]

I have just bought a new CD player (Arcam CD73) and now when listening to CDs I am very critical. I can tell if they sound good or bad about 20 seconds into the song. I am finding that some of the CDs I used to listen to and thought weren't bad now are. The ones I now find to be good are very much better than they were before. As a matter of fact I can't believe how beautiful they sound. It's the bad ones I wish I didn't own now.

What I want to know is if this is a personal perception or is this a common thing to have happen when finally getting a decent CD player?

It's not only common, it's expected. Your CD player will get about 95% of what's on the CD to your ears now. Good or bad it's all there for you to hear. Oh, if you want that last 5% be prepared to shell out a lot more cash.

Ps.

Nice CD player!

[vr6ofpain]

get some good headphones and you will be even more impressed and frustrated by the quality of recordings/formats!

[hermanv]

One can hope that the CD's that sound awful will be a lttle less so when you get a few more hours on your player. In my expereience the biggest change with most equipment break-in is a reduction in harshness.

Of course you still can't make silk purses out of sows' ears. But the good news is that if there is some break-in, those good CDs will sound a little beter yet.

Most equipment seems to enter the end of break-in between 40 and 100 hours of use.

By the way congratulations on catching the audiophile flu, may it leave a some part of your bank account intact.