CD - seedy and Completely Dreadful

[BigMark]

Over the past few months I've been reading about the virtues of non oversampling, I won't go into the theory, let someone who understands it fully do that. Anyway to cut a long story short I ended up buying a completely rebuilt Arcam Alpha 5+ for £175, the unit has been rebuilt with a brand new Philips TDA1541A DAC, burr brown op amps, modded power supply & high quality caps throughout, did I mention it's also converted to non oversampling. Quite simply this is the best cd player i've ever heard, the sound is alive, not at all harsh, the bass has more definition than i've ever heard, & the detail is amazing, played through my naim gear it's been nothing short of a revelation, I am finding myself digging out cd's I haven't played in years. Ok this is not a miracle cure for a crap recording but if you're looking for a neutral non digital sounding player one of these could be your answer. There's a lot of info on google.

[dcathro]

What an interesting thread.

It is facinating that so many people think that early CD's suck.

I personally feel that the earliest CD's are the best. They are usually straight transfers from tape to Sony 1610 and have no compression, no EQ, and no noise reduction. By the mid 80's, CD's were being remastered with additional compression, treble boost and noise reduction - yuk. From there, it has only got worse with each new remaster.

As mark has posted above, a non-oversampling cd player will give a much more analog sound. Digital oversampling and filtering definitely contribute to the thin, wirey CD sound!

Cheers

David

[anatech]

Hi David,
Studer 24 track at 30 ips with Dolby SR has a wider signal to noise ratio than a CD can have. They are compressed, believe me. Just not stomped on like FM (or worse - AM) broadcasts.

-Chris

[BigMark]

Originally posted by dcathro
What an interesting thread.

It is facinating that so many people think that early CD's suck.

I personally feel that the earliest CD's are the best. They are usually straight transfers from tape to Sony 1610 and have no compression, no EQ, and no noise reduction. By the mid 80's, CD's were being remastered with additional compression, treble boost and noise reduction - yuk. From there, it has only got worse with each new remaster.

As mark has posted above, a non-oversampling cd player will give a much more analog sound. Digital oversampling and filtering definitely contribute to the thin, wirey CD sound!

Cheers

David

I sort of have to agree with David, some of the early CDs do sound much better than the later remastered ones, the first one that springs to mind is Dark Side Of The Moon, this was the very first CD I bought back in 1986 I think, when the remastered one came out I got a copy & was dissapointed, the sound was dull & lifeless, it had lost it's soul!. On the other hand I bought Dire Straits - Love Over Gold at about the same time, this had been very badly transfered to CD, it was hissy & lifeless & I never played it, but I was round a mates one night & he played the remastered version, what a difference, it had 'life' & the guitar had a real twang to it, having now got my own copy I can compare them side by side & the remastered one is so much better, still a bit hissy though. If I hear a CD I like & want I generally try to get the same pressing that way I know what to expect.
The point i'm trying to make is this "If it aint broke don't fix it" some of the early CD's do sound better others do not. I suppose it's all about money at the end of the day, when sales start to fall Remaster it weather it needs it or not then they can put a new sticker on it & up the price. God i'm so synical!
Mark.

[Taperwood]

Well Stevers, I wanted to start out by saying that probably all CD's sound bad because they were engineered by CHRISTIANS!!, but that would be mean-spirited, so I won't say that.

On the other hand, you seem to have screwed yourself. You have a lot of nice equipment (better than mine by far), a lot more bottles of Right Bank than me (I have only 12 or so, but at least they are all 98's ; however, you have convinced yourself that all your CD's sound like crap. That's a pretty damning statement. You seem convinced that CD's will never sound right. You have painted yourself into a corner.

It's hopeless. You must either give up listening to music or switch mediums. I see no point in torturing yourself like this. What will it be, vinyl or MP3? Perhaps DVD would do the trick? I'm serious. You've poisoned your mind. Give it up now while you are still alive.

Of course, I am ribbing you somewhat, but why should CD's generally sound good to most people but not to you? That's the question that nags my mind.

A case in point: A friend and I were trying to integrate a sub I was trying out. He was adjusting the volume while I listened. I listened for a while and said "right there, perfect!" He said, "Doug, I haven't moved the volume yet"

Doug