Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: re: Sound quality of CD's
Message-ID: <698@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 13:14:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.698
Posted: Fri Oct  4 13:14:19 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 14:50:05 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 46


> From:	cmu-cs-spice!tdn	(Thomas Newton)

> Does anyone out there have any useful comments on the sound quality of various
> CDs, especially those produced from analog recordings?  I've noticed that the
> amount of hiss on the analog albums I have ranges from very low (Billy Joel:
> An Innocent Man) to very high (Stevie Nicks: Bella Donna).
> [...]
> In particular, if I had known how much hiss was on the "Bella Donna" album,
> I would not have bought it in CD form.  The first track starts off with a fair
> amount of hiss, which within about two seconds increases in volume to a really
> horrible level.  The hiss is also "sharper" than the hiss on the other analog
> CDs that I own.  Considering that most of the songs on the album were written
> around 1980, the sound quality is inexcusable.

Odd, I haven't noticed the hiss on BELLA DONNA. Unfortunately, I'm separated
from the CD player that I once was using (a former roommate's), so I can't
check it now. I don't have especially sensitive ears (I never noticed how
noisey LP's were until after I'd started listening to CD's; I also haven't
been able to tell that pre-recorded cassettes are all that noticibly inferior
to home-recorded-to-tape LP's). Anyways, back to CD's --- the only CD's I've
bought on which I was able to notice any hiss without specificly listening
for it is Stevie Ray Vaughan's TEXAS FLOOD.
	Two CD's that I found were remarkably free of hiss, considering the
age of the masters, are the first two albums by the Doors, THE DOORS and
STRANGE DAYS.

As for reasons to buy a CD that is as noisey as the LP, I consider the con-
venience factor (its portability and size) of the CD and its lack of wear to
be as attractive a characteristic as its sound quality. And CD prices are no
longer more than twice the LP prices. There are quite a few places that are
cutting CD prices to $11-13.99.

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)

UUCP:	{decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA:	boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA

--------------------

Please note that this mail message is likely to be incomplete.
The sender aborted the transmission.

	rhea::MAILER-DAEMON

--------------------


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com