Got a question that has been buggin' me for quite some time, but never brought the question up, so here goes...

Rarely do I play CD-R's in my setup, mostly I use them in the car, but occassionally someone will burn me a copy of an album (like bobsticks sending out a comp) and i'll have to play the CR-R instead of the regular Redbook CD. However, I have compared back and forth and I never get the same sound from the CR-R's and I was wondering if there is something that can be done about it. Are there certain CD-R's that I should invest in for audio quality or is it a lost cause? Does it matter how I am burning the disc? I typically burn straight on my laptop (Mac) using iTunes and I have the iTunes setting for Apple Lossless.