Does it matter where a CD is manufactured?

As long as the facility stamps the cd's in accordance with ISO standards, there should be no difference in sound quality. However, the mastering during the recording and pre-production mastering prior to the manufacture of the glass master will have the most, if not all, of the impact on the sound quality.

There have always been rumors that cd's manufactured in Germany, Japan, etc. are superior to US discs, etc., but I think it is just a holdover from the old days when import lp's were a big deal (indeed, many imports were pressed in limited numbers and some used virgin vinyl).

IMHO... If it comes from France, don't buy it.

There is a definite difference in CDs made in Japan and the UK compared to US. Check out any of those Japanese mini LP jacket CD's and compare to the U.S. version and they blow the US versions away. I bought the Beatles UK version of the White Album with the special mini LP packaging and it is superior to the US version. Then I bought the Sony Superbit mapping of Dire Straits Love Over Gold and the first Dire Straits album pressed in US and the British version pressed by Vertigo and the U.S. version is garbage. Unfortunately those who commented above probably don't have revealing enough systems to tell the difference. Too bad.

We are discussing ordinary, everyday, off the shelf CD's, not some special edition that in many cases are made for audiophiles.

So what you say we will notice with the import CD's compared to domestic CD's is "blow away". I am not familiar with the audiophile term "blow away". How will we recognize "blow away" when we hear it? Once we know what to listen for, how can we optimize "blow away" in our system?