CD duplicate...

Jea48
To add to Nutella, the CD-R copy "can" sound better because the data copied is easier to read by your CD player than mass produced CD. The physical burning with laser used to copy data to CD-R is different and superior process to mass produced stamping for commercial music CDs. Also the dyes, metal layer, and protective coating can be superior with quality blank CD-Rs.

Different brands of blank CD-Rs can sound slightly different, black CD-Rs are popular as well as premium brands like Mitsui. The quality of the CD-R drive doing the burning, laser used etc can also vary results. Finally different burning software can have variable results, most popular commercial brands are Roxio, Nero, Musicmatch, Recordnow. Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is available as free download.

Anyway fun and inexpensive to experiment with, as mentioned above most dramatic improvements can be heard on CDs that are not well recorded and have typical CD grain/glare/sibliance. Almost all new computers with CD-R drive have some CD burn software installed so play around and experiment....or just skip all the trail and error and check into getting tricked out Reality CD burner mentioned in Positive Feedback article.

I have not experimented with home audio dual deck CD recorders, and not sure how they compare to computer copied CD-R. Be interested to hear anyone who has tried both methods and which they prefer.

I have a Pioneer Elite PDR19 and have made copies on to the new MFSL blanks and can only hear the difference on a local dealers 100K plus system and slight "depth of feild" at that. SO I beleive for my system that I get a exact copy.

Here is another very interesting in depth aticle about experimenting with different CD-R copy techniques for audiophiles:

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/whitepaper/Black_CDsII.pdf

Jea48...my listening equipment for digital is:

Sony DVN 775V CD/SACD player
Dynaco Pat-5 preamp modified by Frank van Alstine
Dynaco ST-150 amp modified by Frank van Alstine
Rectilinear III speakers re-wired and modified
Creative Cable Company 12.0 interconnects
Creative Cable Company speaker cables
Creative Cable Company Power Conditioners

I have been able to hear the difference, though, on any decent system I've tried the A/B comparison.

Another thing...Black CD-R's are often used for gaming for very fast loading with low error rates. I've used Memorex Black CD-R's purchased from Best Buy. I've heard that the best are 'Pro-Disc Diamond Black' but I haven't purchased any yet.