CD-Rs definitely sound better than the original CD!!
Just the day before I read this thread, I backed up some of my best CDs on CD-R. When I briefly listened to them after backing up, the back-ups seem to sound better. I thought it could not be true. When I read this thread the day after, I was absolutely amazed. So I compared all the back-ups to the originals, clearly the CD-Rs sounds a lot better.
The very clear examples are that I have a Japanese version of Eddie Higgins' Haunted Heart (Hyper Magnum Sound 24bit Gold disc), and an audiophile version of a Taiwanese singer called Caiqin pressed from original master tape with JVC XRCD technology (I am not exactly sure what technology it is, but on the cover it says it is for really serious audiophiles). When I first listened to Eddie Higgins' one, I was disappointed that the sound quality was rather dull compared to other Eddie Higgins CD's I have (by the way, I have a couple of high resolution gold discs that sound terrible). For the other one it was good, but not as good as I expected, so I did not listen to it much. But now when I listened to the CD-R back-ups, the Eddie Higgins one became some much brighter, more open, more air, it seems like you can touch the double basses playing, not to mention the clarity of the piano. For the other one, it was even more amazing, it is like I can see the music coming out from the grand piano, and the singer singing in front of it. I never had that experience before. (For many of you who may not know Caiqin's recordings are listened to and used by many audiophiles in Asia to test their systems.)
I have not yet used the black CD-Rs (ordered them just this morning, to be available in a week). I just used very ordinary CD-Rs, and can't wait to try the Melody Black Diamond.
I am so excited now, I am going to copy all my Diana Krall and Lee Ritenour onto Melody Black Diamond to see how good they sound. It is going to open up a whole new listening experince to me.