Extreme hardglass CD


Hi, have you seen the advertisement for an extreme hardglass CD? You can be the owner of it for just $1,000. No kidding! I wonder why spending that much money into a "flawed" carrier (the "perfect sound forever" red book silver disc we all know) for perhaps 5% overall improvement in sound, while you can get a 30% improvement by doing the recording or remastering job in the right way (which is certainly not the case in many CD releases)? But I assume there will be people who will buy the disc (there are many rich audiophiles around you know). At least they will hear the famous Herbert von Karajan DGG recording of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony in glorious sound!
Btw, has any of you heard an extreme hardglass CD? If you have, please give us your impressions of the sound.

Chris
dazzdax
What is the advertised purpose of it? If it's jitter reduction then there are other ways of handling that - like jitter suppressing upsampling DACs or players. I suspect that the reason might be longevity. It is probably not very important since any redbook CD can be copied (or reordered) and preserved in digital domain.

Chris - the sad part is that if they still exist they have sales.
$1,000 is actually quite a bargain as these sell for 200,000Y in Japan which is about $2,000. 8^)
IMHO: That amount could be put to much better use but hey, what others do with their money is none of my business.
Still I have to admit, I'd like to hear one just out of curiosity.
There is an almost exponential increase in the numbers of very rich people, especially in South-East Asia. Some of them are audiophiles like us and I think these are the people who define the niche market for items like the extreme hardglass CD's. I'm afraid these CD's are not for us mere mortals...

Chris
Chris - It sounds also that there is exponential increase in number of stupid people.

Everything is a matter of perspective, I guess. I read review of hotel in Italy on travel forum describing certain hotel as a very inexpensive one. I found out, when booking, that it was over $2k a night.
Are we the only audiophiles who are discussing this revolutionary red book CD spin off and music carrier? What is indeed the purpose of the manufacturer of producing such super-CD's? For the sales? Is it profitable business?

Chris
Now those questions I cannot answer. I would suppose there would be few that can.
OK, so after looking at the ad, I wonder. Is this basically a very expensive re-issue like MFSL ultradisks? Where do they get the music files they dub to the CD? Do they have a license from the artist and company that put out the original. Who would pay $1K for a CD and SACD "demo disk"? Are they outta their &!@#$-in' minds? Are we?
Rja - couple of years ago there was, in yearly edition of Stereophile "Recommended Components", an amp that retailed for $400,000. People who can afford it probably feel, that to keep things in proportion they need $1k CD. It's crazy.
Swampwalker, I have found one review of the Karajan Beethoven recording on an extreme hardglass CD. The reviewer thought it was worth the money.

Chris
I wouldn't mind hearing this CD although I would never consider purchasing one. As far as why it exists, I have no idea other than because it CAN exist. Of course, that's not always a good enough reason.

I have this image in my mind of the scene from Frankenstein where the good doctor declares: "It's alive! It's alive!". But of course in my scene he's listening to this CD. "8^)

Maybe it sounds like a $35,000 CDP when played in a $99 CDP. In that case it could be a good deal if you have extremely limited musical tastes.
I see John Coltrane/Ballads is scheduled for release 6/24/09 @ 200,000Y. You do get a bonus standard CD for comparison though. 8^)
Rya, I did a search but couldn't find the review I mentioned earlier. Do you know someone who has heard one of those CD's?

Chris