Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/album?artist=Rolling+stones&album=Exile+on+Main+Street I dunno about harsh but the 2010 issue is super compressed. Worst case scenario. That can’t be good. Whereas the early CD is relatively uncompressed. The Rolling StonesExile On Main St.1989 CD 12 10 14 |
@geoffkait Interesting observation. Not just cd players seem to be aiming at a more processed sound, recent cd reissues apparently go in the same direction. From an audiophile point of view this is indeed not good. All this manipulation of the datastream seems to squash dynamics, probably the only real advantage digital has over analog. Why? Perhaps because most people enjoy music through mediocre media systems and/or earplugs. Just as most record companies compressed their vinyl records to accomodate those cute little gramophones that were used in most households. Thankfully at least some audiophile companies like Decca, Mercury, (early) RCA, Blue Note e.a. were aiming higher and used as little compression as they could get away with. One of the reasons why these venerable records are still considered as a benchmark. Which begs the question: will we ever see an audiophile collector's market for cd first issues and pressings? |
With my upgraded sound, I have to say a few CDs I used to really enjoy are now hard to listen to. In particular, last night I was playing some Tori Amos, and realized her voice is buried and distorted under endless layers of ?? And sound worse than when I had a way less revealing system. Annoying, because so many other voices are so spectacular. I blame the producer, who must have thought distorting her voice with echo and reverb and who knows what else... was a good thing. Plus they buried her voice into the mix. I own a few of her LPs and I should re-listen to them to see if it is the same. |
edgewear Which begs the question: will we ever see an audiophile collector's market for cd first issues and pressings? >>>>The future is here! Check out the CDs at most thrift stores and you’ll find by and large most of them are reissues that fall under the category of aggressively compressed. That’s because collectors of which there are a great number dump them like hot potatoes. You will also find on eBay that CD reissues that are overly compressed are usually heavily discounted. Whereas early or original CDs that are not compressed sell at high premiums, if they are even available. I will not knowingly listen to compressed CDs myself. I actually look for cassettes of music I like since they are not compressed, having been produced prior to the Oudhess Wars. |
"Check out the CDs at most thrift stores and you’ll find by and large most of them are reissues that fall under the category of aggressively compressed. That’s because collectors of which there are a great number dump them like hot potatoes."The first part is likely true, but the second part may have different explanation. For example, people dumping CDs altogether. Not that long ago, my local library was overflooded with LPs. Some really old. It was not due to collectors dumping them. It was more like their descendants dumping them. Maybe people who owned these thrift-store CDs are not all dead yet, but they may be dumping the format they consider obsolete. |
