CD vs. CR-R...

[PeruvianSkies]

wandering musings since I actually have a few minutes tonight.

Several years ago I was demo'ing speakers. The B&W (forget which models) where freaking awful sounding to me. The sales guy upon learning that he wasn't going to get a sale told me that they sounded so bright and awful was because I had brought in a CDR full of my demo toons (My very own" Best of Sounds Good vol. 1&2" for all the old timers). I said he was crazy, he said it was obvious. We agreed to put it to the test. I brought in a couple of the original discs and told him to pick them out and we agreed that if he guessed CDR or original more than half the time out of 10 guesses I'd defer to him. A couple of minutes in he knew he was screwed. Some people claim they can hear a difference but I've never even heard about anyone coming close to substantiating it.

Saw him again about 3 months ago when I needed some longer screws for a TT cartridge. We still laugh about it.

jc

Well, I am telling you that the difference on my system is insanely easy to detect. I mean, my wife notices a difference...now that's saying something.

[Mike]

Well, I am telling you that the difference on my system is insanely easy to detect. I mean, my wife notices a difference...now that's saying something.

I've been bitten by this feeling i.e there is a difference between the original and a CDR a few times but each time I actually sit down and try and establish the difference I can't, at least not on my system. I must have at least a dozen or more different types of CDR's and I have no preference for one CDR over the other.

But here's the problem a friend once copied me a CD by The Blue Nile - Hats. I didn't need it cos I had the original CD but I ended up listening to it one day and thought wow this sounds brighter and definitely louder than the original. So I compared them and although the brightness/sharpness was difficult to verify it was definitley quite a few notches up on the volume. I don't know what software he used to copy with, or if he 'tweaked' the sound but there was a difference.

Since then I sometimes will even enhance an original. Now that may be blasphemy to some audiophiles but it works for me. Who hasn't thought sometimes a track lacks bass, or is overly bright but by lifting or dropping the bass/treble or lifting the output level to match other tracks you can improve the sound.

My only main tip is try to avoid fast burning speeds (40x) although that's nothing to do with the sound, it simply produces less errors e.g glitches and pops. A friend tried to convince me burn no faster than 2x for better sound quality. But come on, I mean are you telling me production CD's are burned at a slow rate for sound quality - I don't think so, not when economics are the main concern.

Cheers
Mike

[Jim Clark]

Well, I am telling you that the difference on my system is insanely easy to detect. I mean, my wife notices a difference...now that's saying something.

Well, I didn't read every word of every post on this thread but I seem to recall there was some discussion about whether or not you were even copying discs correctly. So yeah, if you've got clicks and pops in your copies you obviously have issues. What I'm talking about is when it's done correctly. I've never had a mac so sadly I can't offer any help, and I wasn't trying to. Simply pointing out that when you have the right software and properly functioning hardware you should be a very happy camper.

There are enough resources around that I'm sure you'll be able to get it worked out. Troy is a Mac god, do whatever he says : )

jc