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From: dsi@unccvax.UUCP (Dataspan Inc)
Newsgroups: net.audio,net.music
Subject: Re: Sound quality of CDs
Message-ID: <282@unccvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Sep-85 09:23:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: unccvax.282
Posted: Fri Sep  6 09:23:30 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Sep-85 04:57:41 EDT
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     Pop CD's have about 3 dB dynamic range ??? Ha! What do you have in
your tape monitor loop, an Optimod or Dorrough DAP? Please buy a copy
of "Tropico" (Pat Benetar) and crank your amplifier up to a comfortably
loud listening level. I'll bet your Pioneer SX-780's lights blink to
half intensity on peaks!!!   -:) -:) -:) -:)

     Seriously, though, a lot of the pop CD's do have elzippo dynamic
range. The CD format did nothing for "Purple Rain" (sounds just as busy
as ever, but what do you expect?). ONE of the songs on "Diana" however
(ooooohhh oooohhhh, Immmmm miissssinnnnnneeennn uuuuuuu....) though
has superior clarity and definition. I think it is all digital...

Here are some other "pop" CD reviews from a technical point of view:

"Tea for the Tillerman" (Cat Stevens)
     I prefer the Mobile Fidelity UHQR and/or regular half speed to this.
Some of the selections reveal some very nasty bad channel-to-channel phase
errors. On one of the cuts (the name escapes me right now) there is 
this neat effect where you hear old Cat as if he was badly off mike... this
is not present in the analog recordings. Surface noise is decent, and 
the definition on most of the side 1 selections ("Miles from Nowhere, 
Wild World, Sad Lisa" ) have good definition. Dynamic range is good 
although I don't think they are getting the full dynamic range out of the
A/D converter.

"Synchronicity" (Police)
     Superior in CD. Not "digital-audioey" at all, with good separation
and very low noise level. Cymbal transients in "Wrapped Around your Finger"
much cleaner than with my B&O MMC 20CL cartridge. What is also neat about
this CD is that bass is clean and tight.

"I Robot" (Alan Parsons)
     This CD is BRIGHT!!!! I mean, can we say differentiated! Very harsh
and strident and irritating to listen to (I like the album very much, though).

"Court and Spark" (Joni Mitchell)
     Nominal, compares extremely closely with the Nautilus halfspeed. However,
one of the burning questions about mistracking has finally been answered:
on side 2, "Down to You" has several places where Roberta Joan of Saskatoon
overdubs her voice in at least 4 or 5 layers. I have always heard a bit of
clipping in these passages, on the regular album, CD-4 QuadraDisc(tm), 
Nautilus, and now the CD. It's on the master tape, folks. 

"Who's Next" (The Who)
     This is a genuinely satisfying rerelease on CD. Despite their slimy
and raise-hell attitude, all of the immediacy and realism of the original
comes shining through. There is actually talent on this record, and you
can finally hear it (MCA must be pressing them on the same set of stampers
used when originally issued). The separation on "Won't Get Fooled Again", while
that clichey overstereoey mix (because people had ceramic cartridges then
with 3 dB separation) is neat because if you play just the left channel,
you can hear chairs squeaking, papers shuffling, and all kinds of other
neat stuff. If you like this record, you will LOVE the CD!!!!

"Twin Sons of Different Mothers" (Weisberg/Fogelberg)

     Don't waste your money. Yeah, it's clean, but I bought it in a fit
of brain-lock thinking it would be just that much more awwwsome than the
CBS Mastersound. "Twin Sons" is also very noisy, and the two vocal selections
have the living s**t compressed out of them.

"Thriller" (Jackson)
     Borrowed this one. I think it's neat because "Wanna Be Starting Something"
has got to be the all-time record setter for high frequency content. It has
the same sound quality as . . .

"Moving Pictures"
(Rush) 
     Also very clean, very good. Lack of digitalaudioeyness. Compares to the
Polygram import quite favourably.

'Nuff said. I'd like to know how "Secret Life of Plants" (Stevie Wonder) 
sounds before I plunk down $40. This one is supposed to be digitally mastered,
right (on Sony PCM-1). If I were Stevie, though, I'd use a type "C" recorder
to store it on, and not the U-Matic that Sony suggests.....

System: TEAC A-10 (Burr Brown D/A with Yamaha oversampling chip set, the
overwhelming favourite of CD manufacturers everywhere), Accuphase E203,
ADS 800 (somethings), B&O MMC20CL on BIC 980, and lots of 8 gauge THHN
wire everywhere..

Comments?
David Anthony
CDE
DataSpan, Inc