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CDR Fidelity?

A recent thread about CD's that people use to evaluate changes in their system was interesting because some people are burning their own compilation of songs on CDR to test out new equipment. This would avoid bringing a stack of CD's to the dealers or wherever but...

My question is this: Is the quality of CDR's equal to that of your standard redbook disc? Shouldn't there be some loss of fidelity when copying CD's? I have always thought that my CDRs sounded worse than the store bought original. CDR's always seemed to be more compressed without as good dynamics and detail. This is of course even worse when the CDR is a converted MP3 disc.

What have you A'goners found?

I use a PC running Win XP, sound card is Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy. I use Clone CD to copy discs and Windows Media Player for MP3 ripping. CD burner is a standard Sony 8/4/32 CDRW.
128x128karl_desch
radiate
2 posts
 
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?
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,375 posts
 
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.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
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.
lngbruno
210 posts
 
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.
kthomas
911 posts
 
It's very easy to prove to yourself that the copy you made is identical. If you believe that a copy sounds worse than the original and you haven't proven that you're making bit-perfect copies, you owe it to yourself to do so. Then, if you still believe the copies sound worse, at least you know you're comparing apples to apples. It is, however, very easy to believe you're making a "perfect" copy when in fact you're not, in which case I would expect the sound to be significantly worse. I personally find the experience of listening to original vs. copy to be identical, but others believe otherwise. Not trying to convince you one way or the other, just suggesting that if you want to use CDRs but believe you're getting sub-par copies, you might want to investigate the method before abandoning them. -Kirk
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