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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 ...
128x128horseface
horseface's avatar
horseface OP
222 posts
 

This is good stuff - I wish I could keep it going. I guess I could be more specific in my posts and get specific opinions on certain remasters. I was looking at the Cat Stevens remastered "Tea For the Tillerman" as well.

Too bad we cant preview music like we can movies ... in my house on my system.

I did fork out for the Led Zeppelin remaster box set and was VERY happy. In contrast I have a bunch of SACD's that sound as bad as the original CD's did.

Thank you for the idea ... maybe I dont need a book ... I'll just use the forum. I had illusions of being in a used CD store and as I find a CD that looks good I would look it up to see if the recording was any good. There is a certain amount of subjectivity but I think for the most part bad fidelity is fairly easy to identify.

Oh well ... I have a new idea. I'm going to start a post on the quality of remastered CD's.

See you there!
horseface's avatar
horseface OP
222 posts
 
I'm sure this thread is long dead ... but I found a few guides that are exactly what i was looking for:

For Claasical stuff : The Penguin guide to Compact discs and DVD's ... I then used that to search more and found a blues guide book, a book called 1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die - and I even found a heavy metal guide so with that as a benchmark I figure there has to be a Jazz guide out there somewhere. granted most of it is directed towards the material I believe recording quality is part of the review - it is with the Penguin Guide.

But then again ... I'm probably talking to myself.

I'm so alone
zinfan2
154 posts
 
There's a Penguin Guide to Jazz available on Amazon. I've never looked at one though, so can't tell you whether it discusses recording quality as well a content.
kgproperties
53 posts
 
I have been frustrated over this subject for quite some time. Many of us have invested (dare I say) tens of thousands of dollars into awesome audio systems, but the source of the music, the CD's are more often than not poorly engineered. The reason for this is simple: there's no profit incentive for the music companies to put out quality. The vast market for recorded music today is on MP3 - highly compressed and available directly through ones computer. The "artist" records the music and a minimal amount of engineering goes into the production of the final product. The market accepts this poor quality since it wants it on MP3 (where everything sounds lousy) and there aren't enough purchasers of CD's (who might actually care) to justify the added costs of making it sound correct.
I'm convinced we audiophiles are a dying breed... Ken
zar
185 posts
 
This would be great. A bad cd is going to make even the most expensive system sound, well bad. I too have bought remastered cd's that don't sound all that great. On the other hand some others have been exceptional.
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