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BMG CD's ARE worse

I have seen this question somewhere before so when I got Rush's "2112" on both BMG and not I compared the two.

Both CD's say "Anthem Records", "Mercury" and "Polygram" but the BMG version says "This compilation @1990 PolyGram" "mfd. for BMG Direct, 6550 East 30th St., Induanapolis, IN 46219" and the non-BMG CD just says 1976 Mercury Records.

The BMG version sounded much less dynamic. The sound was compressed and flat. To prove my ears were not imagining things I looked at the playback level meter on my CDR-500 and the non-BMG version was showing higher peaks. The BMG version was showing a virtually constant playback level on the same part of the opening track.

Note this is not just a recording at a lower playback level but the actual dynamic peaks are showing to be less on the BMG disc. BMG is cheaper, looks like you get what you pay for.
cdc
rwwear
2,871 posts
 
Depends, the other CD may be remastered.
johnj
27 posts
 
I have not purchased from BMG or Columbia for some time now. The prices are lower than available through other sources but selection of music and artists is often poor. I too had the sense that the "club" recordings were not of the same standard as retail store CD's. I did not do the measurements. I only used my ears.

Do you or does any one else know how or if it would be less costly for the clubs to produce "compressed" versions of the music? Do we have any "experts" out there who could comment on the subject?
mwilson
430 posts
 
I believe CDC. I don't BMG, never have, never will - but I have heard with my own ears what he's talking about. Can't remember what recording, as it was years ago, but I've been left with the same lingering question, long before I really started listening critically. Just a nod to the post, anyone have anything solid on this? It's a great question.
killerpiglet
374 posts
 
You guys may find this interesting:

http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?55

KP
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I agree that the club CD may been a poor remaster (because of the dates). They don't have the same digital information. Stereophile and some others have done very complete and detailed tests (technical and blind listening) of identical store bought CDs versus CD club CDs, and did not find any difference in any of the CDs tested. They even compared the two by reversing the polarity. If they are the same they will cancel each other out. If not, then sound will be heard or a signal will register on the test equipement. They all cancelled out each other perfectly.

Later when they did find small differences they think those differences could be from "jitter" differences from different production runs, but store CDs may just as likely be the worse ones.

Also when I got married, my wife and I had some duplicates (mine clubs, hers from the store), so I did my own test. I used a changer as a transport for the DAC and had her put the CDs in, so I would not know which was which. I could not tell either for the few I tried.

And finally, some CDs are just defective from production, even though the record companies claim it can't happen. I have returned CDs before because of defects (store and clubs both).


A copy of the Stereophile article is at:
http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?55

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