CDR Fidelity?


A recent thread about CD's that people use to evaluate changes in their system was interesting because some people are burning their own compilation of songs on CDR to test out new equipment. This would avoid bringing a stack of CD's to the dealers or wherever but...

My question is this: Is the quality of CDR's equal to that of your standard redbook disc? Shouldn't there be some loss of fidelity when copying CD's? I have always thought that my CDRs sounded worse than the store bought original. CDR's always seemed to be more compressed without as good dynamics and detail. This is of course even worse when the CDR is a converted MP3 disc.

What have you A'goners found?

I use a PC running Win XP, sound card is Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy. I use Clone CD to copy discs and Windows Media Player for MP3 ripping. CD burner is a standard Sony 8/4/32 CDRW.
128x128karl_desch

Showing 1 response by ejlif

My copies sound basically as good as the original, in some ways they are better, and in some ways the original is better. I consider it a toss up. I am not using a computer to burn the CDs however. I am using a professional model Tascam CD burner and a high quality digital cable as well as a very good transport as the source. The burning is done in real time (not high speed) It seems like everyone who doesn't like the quality of CDRs is burning them using Computer software and a CDR drive.