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In Reply to: RE: as it should ... posted by TBone on March 13, 2015 at 17:39:27
I don't agree that the CD format "took years to mature sonically".... The format itself was fine from the get-go, there has not been a lot of rigs out there that give satisfactory results.
In fact, due to the lack of satisfactory CD playback, I believe CDs later on were optimized for the compromised playback at large. But on a good rig, some of the best sounding CDs I've heard came out during the first decade of production.
I also think the best CD playback was from the "20-bit 8x oversampling" era of the 1990s. But I haven't heard the really recent gear, which may be vastly improved relative to the products of just a few years ago.
Follow Ups:
the CD format is still far to be completely understood, at least on the playback side.
Maybe the filters ? maybe the output stage ? maybe the jitter ?
maybe the weather ... and so on.
Let's be frank ... the digital is a real mess.
If not almost every cd player would sound at least musical and in the end satisfactory, like it is always the case with just decent turntables.
Kind regards,
bg
Edits: 03/16/15
> > If not almost every cd player would sound at least musical and in the end satisfactory < <
not certain this is a fair statement ... considering no CDP I`ve ever heard, at any cost, could remaster a poorly mastered CD.
Hi do you mean that the main problem is actually in the masters' quality ?
That cds produced from good masters sound good on all at least decent cd players ?
This is very important for me to understand.
Thanks a lot.
Kind regards,
bg
I had owned/tried/heard a variety of cdp/separates from 1983 to 1998, some better than others; but having been a long term vinyl guy, my expectations were never matched by any cdp I'd witness. The bit wars, to my ears, made CDs sound worse in general.
I can think of a number of cheaper 16bit chipped players which I preferred over the top-of-the-line very expensive 20bit8x (IIRC) Denons. Those Denons sounded broken compared to an Ariston rd11, yet they flew of the shelves.
That said, the first CDP I witnessed which could replicate proper instrumental impact, such as hard hit cymbal (even today most struggle) or dig out subterranean bass, while still sounding transparently musical & 3D, especially at higher SPL, was indeed a 20,8x player. It was also $30K ...
As for the CD software, some of the earliest cds did in fact sound better. As the popularity of cd gained acceptance, generally, they became more & more compressed. My current cd library = ~500, but I'd say less than 50 are demonstrably "hi-end" within my system. Most make my system sound no different (actually worse because of the much wider sonic window) than a moderately priced mid-fi system.
Pre 1998, I hated CD with a passion that only the simple minded Teresa could understand, till I heard differently ...
tb1
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