Ultimate Demo Disc for Audio Geeks


In a recent demo of Wilson speakers, my local high end dealer jumped around from disc to disc taken from his giant case, as we tried to sample a variety of music.

Most of his demo discs appeared to be "ripped" and not original versions of the CDs being used.

Given that some of you claim that "ripped" (?) CD's can somehow sound better than the original, I think I have missed the obvious concept of creating a demo disc of sample tracks, test tones, steam trains, ping pong balls jazz, classical, pop, rock, Dusty Springfield, percussion etc. into to one easy to use CD.

Has anyone tried this? Any other thoughts? What tracks would you consolidate on your ultimate demo disc?

I am thinking about an Alesis Masterlink for a second system and this has been one of the ideas which sprang to mind.

Thank you,
cwlondon

Showing 1 response by nsgarch

I'll leave the compilation choices to others. The reason (some say) that burned discs sound better is because they're (literally) burned and not stamped/punched. Supposedly, the 'pits' of (stamped) commercial discs have rough edges that scatter the laser some. While the 'pits' of burned or 'ripped' discs have no edges at all and give a cleaner 'read'.

I think this *can* be true, depending how well or poorly the original stamped disc was made. Some producers of expensive specialty discs note that they burn their products in 'real time' and do not stamp them.
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