CDR Fidelity?

I have found the same thing as well. There are apparently a variety of methods to handle copying of discs and, with experimentation, one could probably discover a way to maximize the fidelity of CD-R recordings. Whatever audiophile tendencies I may be prone to, I did believe that a direct digital copy of a disc should be very close, if not nearly identical. Well, I was very surprised at how notable the difference was. Without shifting into metaphorical lingo, I'll simply say that they sound very "wrong" (if you know what I mean). This was actually a little depressing, as my initial excitement at using a CD burner to make snazzy compilations, etc. was immediately deflated. I am simply using a run-of-the-mill motherboard with Roxio software and a TEAC disc drive. Just to confirm what was readily apparent to me, I did do some A/B testing for a buddy of mine who I had made approximately six or seven of these CD copies for. I switched between copy and original for approximately 10 tracks, with one or two tracks from each disc. They discerned the copy from the original with 100% accuracy, and did so almost immediately (within 10 seconds of listening). This is not an audiophile sort of guy and they were pretty surprised at the significant difference in quality. This is not to say that they are unlistenable or even 'bad' sounding, but given what I now know, it's hard to get too fired up about using the computerized CD copying resource. I would actually be curious to hear some knowledgable technical discussion outlining what happens between point A and B that will create these differences and how they can be minimized (ie. what's the 'best' way to make CD copies on the computer). I did recently make a test copy at a local dealer's shop of a CD with a Marantz stereo component CD player/recorder and this fared MUCH better. Enough so, that I'm considering purchasing one.

Theoretically, digital signal should not have changed with copy process, but it has never been the case. I have noticed a significant loss of image and depth with my CD-R copies comparing to the originals, no matter how I vaired my copy process (burning speed, copier, blank media).

Different brands of CD-R produce different kind of sound. For example, I have found in general the gold CD-Rs have clear and crisp details in treble while the bass is thinned out. Sound from silver dye CD-Rs seems to be closer to the original played on my system.

I have compared 10+ brands and coating of CD-Rs and cannot pick an obvious winner. So far Kodak silver takes the lead.

Anyone has other findings?

My copies sound basically as good as the original, in some ways they are better, and in some ways the original is better. I consider it a toss up. I am not using a computer to burn the CDs however. I am using a professional model Tascam CD burner and a high quality digital cable as well as a very good transport as the source. The burning is done in real time (not high speed) It seems like everyone who doesn't like the quality of CDRs is burning them using Computer software and a CDR drive.

Listen to Ejlif. My Tascam also makes super copies, from CDs, vinyl, and tape. There is a clear (positive) difference between them and the ones my wife (the family computer maven) makes on her Mac. I don't know why.

I will provide my experiences.

CD-R's made on a PC stink, no matter what sound card or PC.

I experimented with stand alone consumer stereo cd player/recorders and found the Pioneer PDR-W839 to do the best job using either Maxell or Mitsui bland music CD-Rs. The near eaqual sound came from recording at real time speed vs 2X's or faster on the Pioneer or on other cd recorders. An email to Dan Wright revealed that a mod was doable it I choose to use this recorder as my main player. I also noticed that some sounded equal to the original, some better and some a little weaker. Check it out for yourself.