Cd Recorders?

Hi,

I bought a consumer-grade copier last year, a Pioneer PDR-W839. I found that playback quality wasn't very good, very bright and digitally. However, I found that copies made on this recorder were indistinguishable (to me) from the originals, and sounded good on a better CD player.

In other words, the copy quality can be very good, even if playback is not.

FWIW, I use Mitsui silver blanks. I have to buy the more expensive consumer ones ("pro" recorders allow using cheaper "data" blanks). I got a good deal on a lifetime supply.

Dual-tray CD recorders are easier to use -- the unit I have literally has a single button to copy from left to right -- and don't cost much, if any, more than single tray units. So I would lean that way.

If you do go single tray, make sure the connection between your CD players is direct and digital. Otherwise you have to go through the potentially crappy analog front end of the CD recorder.

My PDR-W839 is being modified currently by Stan Warren, which is a story for another time.

- Eric

The PDR-W839 is discontinued, btw, the only way to get it currently is as a refurb. I bought it mainly because Stan Warren likes the Burr/Brown DAC it uses, and believes it can be modified to sound good if the analog inputs and outputs are replaced. We will see.