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The Wonderful World of CD-R's

I realize that for most members here "burning" CD-R's is an archaic practice; but I still do it, as Father Beldar used to say, in "mass quantities." Regular old "Verbatims" were my go-to's until they started to not "complete" in the burner, and even when they did they would sometimes not be read by one of my transports. The ones that would play sounded a bit grainy as if not all the data had been correctly read. The distortion was actually a bit novel for awhile - sort of like a CD version of "euphonious distortion" but finally it became tiresome. Could have been a bad batch. Whatever, it set me to ordering and playing with other CD-R's.

The "Plexdisc for Music" CD-R's behaved well, but there was a strange lumpening of bass. Apparently, ones and zeroes can be skipped, glossed over or whatever to an extent that you can hear the mistake in sound even though the sound keeps on playing. These discs are a bit thicker than most, and I wondered if their increased mass might somehow be taxing my desktop burner.

Next I tried "Maxell for Music," and these have been better in every regard. They burn with no rejection and play in both of my transports, and they sound good.

There is this reviewer on Amazon (3rd from the top in linked page) who goes on at length about CD-R's in general and seems to know what he is talking about. He rather ruefully concedes that Maxell might be the best choice we have left. Does his lament on the subject ring a bell with anyone on the forum?

Maxell Reviewer

 

 


 

 

bolong

Showing 4 responses by bolong

bolong OP
386 posts
 

Since I am not archiving anything the gold discs, which are indeed expensive, seem overkill for what I do. Based on what I have read they can have problems equal to the regular CD-R's as far as write/read problems. However, it may be the case that discs that spendy may have a higher chance of being scrupulously made.

The Taiyo Yuden discs were considered top of the heap years ago, but the original factory quit making them and word is that the CMC version of these are not as well made. I have seen some original ones available from Japan on Ebay, but again very spendy.

It may be that I should stockpile discs I know to be ok while I can before CD-R's become a scarce commodity. It sounds like the archival quality may be the last to go since there are still entities such as governments that specify archival quality CD-R's for important data backup.

bolong OP
386 posts
 

That HHB suggestion is much appreciated. They are now under the brand "Burlington." which can be found on Amazon and Ebay. 1x-12x record speed (even as slow as 1x-8x.) This could prove interesting. I think the slowest record speed on my Dell desktop might be that slow.

Also discovered that the "black bottom" CD-R's are still being made which could bear on a subject we got into on Audiogon awhile back concerning blackening the rims and and hubs of CD's to block "incident laser reflections" that might interfere with integrity of the laser reads in our players.

Black Bottom CD-R

 

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bolong OP
386 posts
 

Thanks for your suggestions. I have currently landed on the Plexidisc Taiyo Yuden which are performing very well. Looking at the write side, a very clear reflection of my face appears unlike many other discs which send back a cloudy reflection. Whether this has any bearing on actual quality recording I do not know. I will probably try the MAM-A silvers next.

bolong OP
386 posts
 

The Jay's Audio CDT3 MK3 CD transport I am using contains the Tuned Philips CDPro2-LF Mechanism with the hold down puck that is covered in a thin layer of black foam on the CD side for grip and vibration damping. This, in effect, is the same as blackening the top side of the CD with black marker. If you think this makes a difference in playback by eliminating incident and perhaps conflicting laser reflections then it is a desirable feature of this transport. I do still ink blacken the rim edges of my CD's even if it might be only a "good luck" gesture. It only takes a few seconds.

Still using the PlexDisc Taiyo Yuden CD's with nary a hiccup. These are about 11% thicker than most other CD's - take that for what it's worth.

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