<font color='#000000'><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
gene : <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">They may both fail! As it stands right now the masses think CD is good enough, and some even think MP3 is sufficient.
While I am in full agreement with you regarding MP3, just what is the problem with existing CD other than it is not multichannel? I hear alot of complaints about the CD format, but usually no solid reasons against it.</td></tr></table>
The number one reason I think CD can be improved upon is because I'm an audio enthusiast nutball, not one of the average masses, and nothing is ever good enough for us right? So what's wrong with CD? As of about 8 years ago, not much, although first impressions last a long time I guess. Actually, I think CD is at the height of it's powers right now. It's ironic that when we finally perfect a format, we have to turn around and introduce something new. Now it'll probably be 5 years before SACD/DVD-A starts getting real good, if either one survives. When I got my first CDs when I was 16 or so, there was something about them I didn't like, and this was before any "audiophile" tendencies or knowledge about audio came into my life. It took me a while to get used to CD. The CDs that they've been making lately are excellent though. I don't think there's a whole lot wrong with the format if it's done right, as I have many superb CDs, just a lot of bad transfers and recordings going on. I think they had too much faith in CD at first and that it would sound good no matter what they did, but there was obviously much left to be desired. They've solved some of these problems with the more recent remasterings and so forth, but I still have a few problems with some CDs. If you're a classical listener you might notice (the people that bitch the most about CD seem to be classical and Jazz people). One is ear fatigue and CDs tendency to be over bright, and with so many cheesey bright CD/DVD players on the market it's even worse. I have a little tinnitus in one ear and CD just seems to hit those certain frequencies that pierce my ear and make it ring. I hardly ever get this when listening to live performances or LPs. I'm not saying that LPs are an accurate rendition of a live performance, but in a few aspects they come closer. I've been attending concerts lately. I was only 8 feet away from a live violinist playing Bach's famous Chaconne. It sounded smooth and warm without a trace of roughness or brightness, I came home and played the same thing on CD at close to the same volume and it bothered my ear. Choral vocals also sound very harsh on some CDs. I've also heard lots of heavy metal that sounded almost like static on CD. None of the metal LPs I had as a kid sounded like that. Mabye if I had perfect hearing I'd enjoy CD more, I don't know. Some argue that CD is so good that it has no fault of it's own, it's just revealing the flaws in the recording and your system. A few years ago I had nothing to counter that, until the High resolution formats came out. If they're supposed to sound so much better on any given system, then how can a mere CD be revealing it's limitations? Another problem are some CDs lack of a good bottom end. When comparing the domestic CD release of Metallica's ...And Justice For all to my Japanese LP the LPs bass was deeper and tighter, not to mention the distorted guitars seemed more true to life. My cheap cousin was so impressed that he bought the discs from me for $20 (this was a big deal for him, and I needed the cash at the time), and he didn't even own a turntable! Any fool could tell it was better, you didn't have to be an audiophool. Why was this? CD obviously has more highs, but what happened to the lows? When I play a LP my woofers move in and out, like their being stimulated or something. Is this because of distortion? Mabye some distortion can be a good thing then. With a CD the woofers just sit perfectly still, seemingly uninterested. Another problem with CD is they can be boring at times. Every time I prepare an LP to listen to I usually sit down and really listen to it. How many times have I put a CD in with the intention of listening to it and started doing other things instead? I can't say. Why do some CDs fail to captivate me? Much of my collection consists of CDs, so I'm no LP enthusiast, and I don't have any weird complexes holding me back from enjoying all that audio has to offer, besides the associated cash problems. There's simply too much good music coming out on CD to ignore. If you wanted some solid, scientific reasons why I feel CD has some problems I can't give it to you, and I'm sorry for the subjective hearsay, but if you came to me with a piece of paper with measurements from CDs and said, "This is what good sound is supposed to be, now adjust your ears accordingly", I'd have to say, "what is good sound"?</font>
