A tweak that will tame the digital-ness

Sorry to revive such an old thread!

I just purchased a pre-owned factory reconditioned Harmon Kardan CDR-2 cd recorder. It can burn at 1X. Do you think using Taiyo Yuden or Mitsui gold CDR's as described above burned at 1X on this unit will garner similar results in terms of an improvment over Redbook? Anyone?

You may want to try ERS Sheets on your digital equipment before spending huge $s.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/ers_cloth_e.html

Thank you piano632 for that - I will definitely check it out.

Even better than a mitsui? I am excited !

Just a follow-up to my previous post... The Maxell CD-R Pro discs are just outstanding! They make even regular Taiyo Yuden and Mitsui CD's sound flat (haven't tried MoFi CD-R's yet, but they are also Mitsui discs). I guess it has something to do with the anti-scratch coating put on the Maxell discs that focuses the laser better, but whatever it is the sound quality coming off the Maxell Pro discs is simply the most analog-like sound I've ever heard from a CD. Very liquid-smooth and 3-dimensional and instruments seem to jump out at you. Makes me want to redo my whole CD-R collection.

I would like to know if an important part of the so called "digital sound" is in fact due to different amplitude/frequency characteristics of the reproduced sound. If one is able to make (through the use of equilizers) the amplitude/frequency graph in case of music reproduced through a high end digital unit looks similar to that of music reproduced through a high end analog set up, I think both (the digital and analog source units) would sound quite alike.

Chris

Try Maxell PRO CD-R's available at Staples and elsewhere. They are made in Japan by Taiyo Yuden plus they have an added scratch protection layer that makes them more durable than regular Taiyo Yuden discs. But make sure you get the ones labeled as PRO ($14.95 for 25-spindle) and not the regular Maxell's as they are hardly the same quality.

Unclejeff: and so far the modified SB's $1500+400 still is sounding better than the modified $2700 Transporters so it's still cheaper...until they figure out what to do with transporters to make them sound better. Isolating powersupplies away from main units is always an improvement. I would have bought a Transporter if they had installed a larger display.

And keep in mind that amount is still cheaper than $5000 players plus preamps $$ and interconnects...

ouch. $1,500.00 mod to a ,<400.00 unit(squeesebox!)....?

UncleJeff: go check out the Bolder form on audiocircle for discussions about modifications for SB's.

Bolder is trying a different approach to modifications to the Transporter but hasn't come out with a unit he likes. There are two other mod'ers with transporter mods and I think they cost $2700 including the unit.

Huge benifits from my Bolder modified SB3, mainly the Ultimate powersupply which was ~$1500.. This made the unit comparable to my ~$5k Universal CDP player. I am about to send mine in to get the MkII updates and then re-evaluate.

A stock SB is really lean and flat in the bass, very similar to a Sub $1,500 CDP.

Cytocycle;

I have a squeezebox which was given to me when I purchased a back-ordered Transporter. What benefits did you get from modified squeezebox?

Also, are you aware of modifications to the Transporter?

Googlee3: I always loose that link! Thanks for posting it!

Unclejeff: The other method is rip to FLAC and then use a Squeezebox (modified of course) to reply them.. no more CD playback problems and one less step of burning cd's.

Someday, If I only had some extra time available.....

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/whitepaper/White%20Paper%20on%20Black%20CDs%20ver%203.1.pdf

This is a link to detailed plan - it's long, but will reward.

I'll definitely check out those brand CDR's. I've also heard that the black CDR's also have a similar effect.

Take is a step further and get a plextor external and isolate it, and plug that into a laptop running on batteries and you will get the ultimate results. Use Plextor Tools to rip and burn instead of EAC since it is already calibrated for the drive.

Use a CD Lathe to balance the CD's prior to reading and writing and even get a better result.

Musical Fedelity's X10v3 tube buffer.