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  3. 1165242766

CD Buying Guide???

I was wondering if anyone knows of a book/mag/publication that rates the sonic quality of (most/all) of the CD's on the market. It seems like it would be possible. I have been disappointed to say the least with some of the digital recordings in my collection. I'm not interested in rating the content but more the quality of the product from a strictly fidelity based aspect. I see that remastered CD's are getting VERY popular but I would like a guide to help me avoid the dogs while picking up the gems. The thought of re-buying CD's isn’t all that appealing to me but the chance of getting some of the rotten first attempts at digitizing analog cleaned up is very appealing. I just wish I had a guide. It seems long ago I had picked up such a book from Powel’s in Portland. It gave each disc a 1-5 rating for audio quality and information about how, when, where it was recorded. I thought it was a yearly publication. Man would that be nice when I get on line or head to the local used CD store. There is a lot written on vinyl but I cant really find anything on Compact Disc.

HELP ...
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shadorne
7,476 posts
 
I have never found a reliable guide. The best thing is to follow recording and mastering engineers. When you find someone who is good or you like (such as Doug Sax, Chuck Ainlay, Al Schmitt, Jack Renner, Michael Bishop, etc.) Then look them up on artists direct and find out what they worked on. Generally the good guys get more say in how it sounds....i.e. they get more respect from producers who leave them more freedom. (A producer will often push around a lesser known engineer to produce a hot CD = compressed and bad sounding CD)

Good luck!
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
chase songs...not sounds....as a rule however, newer releases sound better because because the mixing and mastering process has improved.
imin2u
392 posts
 
I mostly disagree with Jaybo. I've found that untouched original cd's with the hiss sound far better than 99% of the remasters. As always, there are exceptions. The Joni Mitchell remasters in hdcd are great. On the other hand, those Cat Stevens remasters were a joke.
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