Shelby Lynne (track4), when played though my Rotel pre/pro it sounds fine but though the Adcom dac her voice seems to breakup at times. Nora Jones (sunrise)and Cat Powers (a few tracks) same thing. The Rotel seems to mask CD problems more but the Adcom sounds better 98% of the time. When I burn a copy the problem goes away.
Silky and soft highs II: CD reference tests
I've been in some interesting discussions here recently regarding high end CD players and have heard a couple at dealers recently, including the DCS Puccini which certainly has to be considered one of the best.
I currently own a very modest Denon player/recorder that is sounding the best of any player I've ever owned in my current system at present.
The flaw that I have heard most frequently in CD players over the years that I notice and bothers me when I hear it is what I think is commonly referred to as graininess, often recognizable as sibilance in the high end. I hear it most easily when present in long drawn out violin notes at a certain pitch, for example, possibly a result of jitter in the analog signal due to clock or other issues in recreating high frequencies from the digital stream correctly in the analog waveform. I suspect better CD players do a better job in general of avoiding or perhaps even masking this somehow if in fact it is inherent in the CD formats limitations.
I'd like to know if anyone can suggest a CD recording I might own that I might use as a test for how well my player handles this? Also any info regarding what to listen for to determine sound quality would be appreciated.
General discussion of this topic is also welcome.
Thanks.
I currently own a very modest Denon player/recorder that is sounding the best of any player I've ever owned in my current system at present.
The flaw that I have heard most frequently in CD players over the years that I notice and bothers me when I hear it is what I think is commonly referred to as graininess, often recognizable as sibilance in the high end. I hear it most easily when present in long drawn out violin notes at a certain pitch, for example, possibly a result of jitter in the analog signal due to clock or other issues in recreating high frequencies from the digital stream correctly in the analog waveform. I suspect better CD players do a better job in general of avoiding or perhaps even masking this somehow if in fact it is inherent in the CD formats limitations.
I'd like to know if anyone can suggest a CD recording I might own that I might use as a test for how well my player handles this? Also any info regarding what to listen for to determine sound quality would be appreciated.
General discussion of this topic is also welcome.
Thanks.