Do CD-R's sound the same as originals

I have burned close to 100 CDR's on my Dell computer with an HP burner. I copy all files to hard drive, then burn CD at 1X. I have not been able to hear any significant degradation in sound quality. I will not say the copies sound better or maybe even as good, but they do not sound bad. I have a superbly resolving stereo worth almost $15000. There might be a slight change in some characteristics, but I have not been able to pinpoint it. I do a lot of listening through headphones, and even then, I detect very minor differences. Could just be psychological. It is certainly orders of magnitude improvement over ANY home tape system, and I've owned three different RTR's and a pretty good cassette deck. Never satisfied with any form of tape (including 7-1/2 IPS on Revox), but CDR is almost as good as original. Most people would never detect any difference. If you detect drastic degradation, you're doing something wrong or your equipment is defective.

What we are talking about here is the entrenched analogs against the open minded digtals. Every point made by those saying there is a difference relates to the older technology analog systems. The fact is, a numerical copy is a numerical copy, and it doesn't matter that the CD is burned or stamped, gold or silver, or if the lens is plastic or glass. We are not talking about cartridges, after all, or frequency response of a tape deck. This is digital, which is a simple sysytem of transcribing numbers from one file to another. There is no system interaction, no cabling, no impedence, or any other crap which encumbered our efforts for years in the analog domain. If you don't like digital, you won't like CDR. If you accept digital technology, and I mean the very basic concept of it, then you will recognize that it is possible to make indistinguishable copies. That's not to say perfect, but indistinguishable. If you can hear a difference between an original CD and a copy made in the proper manner, then you are exercising an active imagination. It is not a matter of better hearing or a better system, but your own mental image of what is actually being reproduced. We accept that.

Carl, thanks for the charming compliments. Hearing as well as a dog must truly be a curse. Barking like one, even more so. I guess there are differences to those who can hear them. To others, probably most humans, there are not significant enough differences to bother with. Those who obsess over the tiniest of variations after extensive and excruciatingly close observation are neurotics who cannot grasp the importance of music over mechanics. Sometimes I want to just chuck the whole business and buy an AIWA rack system at Sears so I can just listen to the music.

The epitome of arrogance, dear carl, is using the word without knowing how to spell it. I am not afraid to admit my human frailty. When it comes to music, if you really listen to IT and not the metal or wooden box it comes out of, it is, indeed, very hard to control one's emotions. Maybe I'm wrong about the sound of CDR's, but I sure like the music I can put on them. Maybe my system just "isn't resolving enough" (what a condescending load of garbage), or my hearing doesn't extend into the supersonic range. And who said these comments needed to be objective? What I believe, not what I omnisciently claim to be fact, is that there is so little difference between original and copy that, without direct comparison, most people will detect none. So copy away, fellow music lovers, but please don't pirate them. As much as we generally despise the record companies, they're there because they can make money doing it. If they can't make money by selling CD's, there goes the music biz.

Well, pass me a big plate of crow to eat. After more careful comparison of CDR's to originals, there is an additional brightness and some loss of detail on the copy. On certain originals which are slightly bright to begin with, the copy is definitely brighter, almost to the point of not sounding good. Other originals seem to copy better, with very little "distortion" in the copy. This does require more investigation, as I am copying some songs from discs and then selling the originals. I'd hate to think I am losing the quality of the original to make a permanent copy that sacrifices audio quality for convenience. Trying to keep an open mind and be critical of every aspect of this hobby, or obsession, or whatever it is.

Kthomas: yes, I do have several originals and their copies, but I do not know how to "extract the file". I'm not thoroughly literate with PC's, but not a dummy, either. Can you provide insight or instruction? I use a Dell, windows 98, HP burner in the CPU. I save files from CD's to the hard drive, then burn from there. Tell me what you mean, and I'll be glad to try it. My copying results do not seem consistent from one session to another, but I cannot fathom what the variable might be. I would really like to get better copies all the time (not better than the original, carl, don't go nuts on me).