CDs Vs LPs

What advantage CDs used to have in dynamic range which really was their BIG SELLING POINT has been squandered by overly eager compression lo these past twenty years. And while CDs generally don’t exhibit the tape hiss as much as LPs one has to wonder if some of the music has disappeared along with the tape hiss. For those who think DDD CDs sound musical good luck with that. But even I have to admit some CDs sound really good. If a CDs gets the dynamic range and polarity right I’m down.

Actually LPs sound pretty good right out of the starting gate, like cassettes. It’s the tizzy, two dimensional, compressed and boring sound of CDs that needs all the help it can get. If you saw all things I do to a CD before I will even attempt to listen to it you’d flip your gizzard.

I must say, an oddity is digitally remastered cassettes. They sound like CDs were always supposed to sound  - Dynamic, open, airy, noiseless, tuneful. Bring back cassettes! Hel-loo! 

When I’m not really sleepy but want to doze off I listen to CD.

Quick interrupt. What’s really required is a trade off study using criteria and weights assigned to each criterion. Then you add up the scores for each criterion times it’s weight and the one that has the highest grand total wins. There’s really no other way to do it, it gets way too subjective and loosely goosey. Pick your own criteria or decide on a list. Let’s say Resolution, Dynamic Range, tonality, frequency extension, bass performance and transparency for starters. Weight them any way you want to.

The data that’s on the CD is not being 100% retrieved during playback. Not by a long shot. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. No biggie, as long as you’re not too picky. 😀 The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.

It’s more than just harshness in CD playback, it’s an unnatural aspect to the sound in general, including bass frequencies, that’s always evident in any CD system that hasn’t been carefully tweaked. Of course, room acoustics is a big subject and also contributes greatly to the sound so it’s difficult to separate variables. Nevertheless, the CD and treating the CD player can go a long way to getting the typical bland and irritating CD sound much more analog-like. A few examples: seismic isolation of the CD player, careful leveling of the transport/CD, dealing with background scattered laser light. Another big issue with CD playback is the worsening situation regarding overly aggressive dynamic range compression in CD mastering.