I'm with Bob.
Once upon a time, I built a combination DAC and headphone amp and plugged a set of Grados into it. I thought, "lets see how this sounds" and started playing a few FLAC files off my computer.
I put on RHCP's "Californication" album, and heard the snap/crackle/pop of clipping. I immediately assumed it was my fault so I hauled the amp apart, started probing around with a scope looking for signs of clipping, op-amps bouncing off rails, etc.. and I couldn't find anything. While frustrated and thinking to myself "what did I do wrong?"... I realized that the distortion was there regardless of volume level. It was the CD itself. Wasted hours and probably lost part of my sanity from that adventure.
And lately, I'm finding that the great majority of CDs out now are just the same - compressed and clipped to sound as loud as possible, completely at the expense of sound quality. There's very few cases as bad as Californication, fortunately.
What's the point anyway?
- If people want their music louder, they'll turn up the volume knob on their stereo.
- Music doesn't have to be pre-compressed-and-clipped for radio, since radio stations have audio processors that do that already.
- It's not like the >90dB dynamic range of CDs requires heavy compression to overcome a high noise floor...
*shrug*
Once upon a time, I built a combination DAC and headphone amp and plugged a set of Grados into it. I thought, "lets see how this sounds" and started playing a few FLAC files off my computer.
I put on RHCP's "Californication" album, and heard the snap/crackle/pop of clipping. I immediately assumed it was my fault so I hauled the amp apart, started probing around with a scope looking for signs of clipping, op-amps bouncing off rails, etc.. and I couldn't find anything. While frustrated and thinking to myself "what did I do wrong?"... I realized that the distortion was there regardless of volume level. It was the CD itself. Wasted hours and probably lost part of my sanity from that adventure.
And lately, I'm finding that the great majority of CDs out now are just the same - compressed and clipped to sound as loud as possible, completely at the expense of sound quality. There's very few cases as bad as Californication, fortunately.
What's the point anyway?
- If people want their music louder, they'll turn up the volume knob on their stereo.
- Music doesn't have to be pre-compressed-and-clipped for radio, since radio stations have audio processors that do that already.
- It's not like the >90dB dynamic range of CDs requires heavy compression to overcome a high noise floor...
*shrug*
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