2. digital
  3. 1024339150

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 radiate

radiate
2 posts
 
Theoretically, digital signal should not have changed with copy process, but it has never been the case. I have noticed a significant loss of image and depth with my CD-R copies comparing to the originals, no matter how I vaired my copy process (burning speed, copier, blank media).

Different brands of CD-R produce different kind of sound. For example, I have found in general the gold CD-Rs have clear and crisp details in treble while the bass is thinned out. Sound from silver dye CD-Rs seems to be closer to the original played on my system.

I have compared 10+ brands and coating of CD-Rs and cannot pick an obvious winner. So far Kodak silver takes the lead.

Anyone has other findings?
More to discover