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
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!!!!
Can you tell us some examples of CDs you have listened to that do not sound good that we might be familiar with?
Get an assistant, hand him the bad ones , shoulder your shotgun and yell, PULL!
It depends on how bad. Try to find a better copy, tolerate it, don't listen, or adjust the tone controls to mitigate the mix. I know it's just plain impossible on some recordings. Face it, you can't make silk from a sow's ear and you may just have to toss the recording and go eat barbaque instead!