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Error in Upsampling Certain CDs?

Hello everyone, this thread is about upsampling CD players or D/A converter. I have noticed that on occassion my upsampling D/A does not work to upsample certain CDs, but will work just fine with others. For example, Pink Floyd, the Wall. The upsampling sounds absolutely horrible, the level is increased but there is all kinds of weird distortion and sound. Try disc 2 if you have it. When I swap with another CD there is no problem. Bought the Floyd cd in the '80's. So my question is whether you have found difficulties in upsampling certain music?

- anyone out there notice the same thing or close?
south_park
treyhoss
287 posts
 
FWIW: I have a copy of the Wall. It is the only disc I own that makes a light turn on my DAC (Parasound DAC1000). If I recall, that light signifies some kind of compression or something in the recording process. It is truly a reference CD. I upsample through an AA DTI-PRO32 and have not noticed a problem. I have owned the old 80's 2 disc set and have owned the remastered version for the last few years. I don't know that upsampling is what is causing your troubles but I know The Wall is the only CD I have encountered that does this. I'll pull out the owner's manual and see if I can't find the exact meaning behind the light on the DAC. BTW: the remastered version is well worth the money - a reference CD.
south_park OP
104 posts
 
Treyhoss, thanks! Let me know what you find out. FYI, I have also encountered problems with certain satellite broadcasts on dish network.
treyhoss
287 posts
 
South Park,
Sorry for not getting back to you right away. According to the DAC1000 manual: "De-Emphasis LED - Some digital recordings are encoded with pre-emphasis contouring. Your D/AC-1000 automatically recognizes and processes them. An LED illuminates as a beacon for visual confirmation."
I'm not an engineer but that could play a role. As I said, The Wall (both old/new versions) is the only CD that activates this light. That said, it sounds great and well recorded - like most Floyd is:-)This is, however, the only Floyd disc that activates the light and uses this de-emphasis. My guess is Floyd was using some "state-of-the-art" studio electronics (It was recorded in '77/78 I think). What other titles do you have that do this?
sean
6,231 posts
 
Sorry for not getting back to you on this. I do not have The Wall. As such, i was unable to test it out.

Treyhoss' suggestion sounds like the source of your problem. Since this is the only disc that you seem to be having problems with and that is the only disc that he has seen his de-emphasis light energized on, i would not worry too much about it. Sean
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south_park OP
104 posts
 
Treyhoss, thanks for the info, you are awesome! Tell you what, I will get a new version of the wall and post if I have problems, since probably the deemphasis of the "emphasis" is the problem. I'll email you with results and also if I find another CD that needs testing. For Sean, I have not had any problem with any other disc, but have rarely experienced the problem with satellite tv, hey, who else out there upsamples their tv to 24/98??? Yeah, its not that much better!
- thanks to all.
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