CD Copies...why do they sound worse?


I had a theory that I haven't discarded yet that not all CD blanks are equal in terms of composition. Yes, they all are made of aluminum and polycarbonate, and when you burn a CD you are creating small holes, or dents in the blank. There is the red book standard that must be adhered to, but as in anything else, I'm sure there are better grades of aluminum and poly available, you get what you pay for. Since the laser reads the digital stream by optically scanning the surface of the CD and interpreting either a one or zero, you'd think it's a go/no-go operation. The original and copies do not sound the same, even to the uncritical ear. I thought for a while it may have had something to do with the relative quality of the CD blanks I was using to copy, in other words, the pressing plants simply use a better grade of master CD's. My friend has a contact and we were able to acquire bulk CD blanks from Saturn Disc that makes CD's. No difference, copies still aren't right. I guess we can eliminate the CD blanks for now. Here's where things get a little outside normal thinking in my twisted logic: we know there are error detection and correction schemes used in intrepreting the data on the CD, employed when the bit being read isn't immediately recognizable to the player. Is it possible the home-made copy that was burned using a cheap consumer grade burner, contains more errors? Are the pits burnt in the CD either irregular in shape or depth? Does the laser in these consumer grade CD burner introduce errors? If so, the EDAC is pretty busy, and doesn't always get it right, which would explain a general lack of quality due to latency delays in the data stream while the EDAC does it's work, and in the process is bound to mis-interpret zeros and ones, there is no 100% accurate EDAC. To me, this is a good place to start in terms of understanding the obvious differences in sound quality.
jeffloistarca
I feel so strongly about the improvement in CDRs over the original that I have sent both the original and the duplicate copy to a friend who of all I know is the most involved and educated person in hifi. I will post his findings on this subject when he tells me what he thinks. Carl if you have one of the same CDs that I have I would be interested in sending you one as well to get your opinion on it. Email me ejlif@sunset.net and maybe we can figure out a CD we both own
OK, I will. I'd still like to see each under an electron microscope. You could mail me one of those too, heh heh.
There certainly is a big difference in the blank disc tha t you use. I tried most of the "name" brands TDK, Memorex,Sony etc. and they were not good. I went to a pro recording supplier and am now using Apogee gold mastering disc at $2.19 each including jewel case and they are very good and I am pretty picky. You might try them. They are: APOGEE -CD 74 - GUJ. My outlet is in Seattle but the company is located in Calif and they do have a web site. Good Luck. John
Ejlif: Pacific Pro Audio in Seattle, Wa. 1100 Virginia St. Suite # 202 Seattle, Wa 98101 (206)264-9386 Garth is who I deal with. Or go to the apogee web site for a dealer near you' Good Luck, John