There is little doubt. What you are hearing is differences in jitter. The master clock, whether in the CD player or the computer or device is the most important part of any audio system. The master clock in the CD transport is affected by the variations in the pits on the media.
The best way to reduce this jitter is to rip your disks using a good tool like dbpoweramp for PC or XLD for Mac and then playback using good software like Amarra or Pure Music.
If you MUST play CD's on a transport, then rewrite them using a Plextor USB drive and use good media like Mitsui gold audio master. Clean and treat the media with a good treatment before writing it. You can use a mat to keep the disks from resonating as it spins. All of these things make the copy sound even better than the original, but it will never be as good as playing the file back on a good computer system from a SS disk.
It's time to come into the 21st century. We dont spin CD's anymore in this century.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
The best way to reduce this jitter is to rip your disks using a good tool like dbpoweramp for PC or XLD for Mac and then playback using good software like Amarra or Pure Music.
If you MUST play CD's on a transport, then rewrite them using a Plextor USB drive and use good media like Mitsui gold audio master. Clean and treat the media with a good treatment before writing it. You can use a mat to keep the disks from resonating as it spins. All of these things make the copy sound even better than the original, but it will never be as good as playing the file back on a good computer system from a SS disk.
It's time to come into the 21st century. We dont spin CD's anymore in this century.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio