What to do with bad recorded CDs


When I upgraded to Mcintosh and Accuphase - Kef speaker system, I am in heaven for the first time I started this hobby a decade ago.

I found my-self not even breathing, to capture every bit of nuance of the music... It was a great moment for me - and I am a professional musician. Rarely do I encounter such moments in live music !

Good Hifi can equal if not better live performance - for me.

But alas, heaven turned into he-- when I put on badly recorded materials. It revealed bad CDs to the point of me wanting to throw them away.

What do audiophiles do about that ? Go back to a lesser system to play these ? Or should I throw away great portion of my collection ?
gonglee3
Get a decent equalizer unit. I know it goes against the perfectionist in us but it really makes a difference on badly manufactured CDs, albums, cassettes, & reel to reel tape. I would be unhappy without mine to use when it can actually improve the sound.
I have found that some 'tweeks' help to take the edge off of a badly recorded CD. Mapleshade micro polish helps. Audio Desk edge beveller backs off some of the nasties. Painting the edge with a permanent marker possibly will reduce jitter. Bottom-line, however, is that as your system continues to become more transparent, it will naturally expose more of what is in the CD good and bad. I have some CDs that I will not play over our reference system while they sound tolerably good over our Bose Wave radio/cd player.
Digital front ends are all different and IMHO SS ones are the least forgiving. Get a 2d CDP which uses tubes. Then put tubes in which have some added warmth - that should take care of a lot of marginal CD's. Might even improve some good ones. If your pre-amp has a tape loop you can put a tube buffer in it and switch it in and out as needed.
They make great bar coasters. Get some thin corkboard, draw the CD's circle onto the cork, and using an eXacto knife, trim off the excess. Glue in place. My friend who runs the Vans Warped Tour and Ozzfest has done this for years. No more bad music--a great conversation piece while drinking a few of the favorites!!!!