What was ever the problem with those little discs?

[Seth=L]

Compact Digital Discs, what was the big downfall of CD when it first arrived? It seems to me that the players weren't the problem, but rather the mastering of the first CDs. I have owned new and old CD players and I honestly don't notice a significant advantage with High-end CD players over older, not so high-end ones.

Just curious what you guys think.

Seth=L

 

[tbewick]

I think that the variability in mastering has always been there. For instance I have an early digital DG Itzak Perlman disc and I can only listen to it on headphones. It sounds too sharp over my main speakers. Another early digital disc of mine, again DG, sounds superb through my speakers - Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. I think a lot of it has to do with how our own systems are set up, and particularly the acoustics of the listening room.

 

[Seth=L]

I remembered reading about how the quality of CD playback was laughably bad even in comparison to rather poor cassette setups. Their slogan was "perfect sound forever" and apparently everyone found that to be a bit of an oxymoron. I think you are right though, they just hadn't figured out how to master CDs yet, and it seems they don't know how to do it most of time now, but think they just don't care to spend the time or money for us few audio people.

 

[Davemcc]

I've got some old early '80's discs and they sound fine, including an AC/DC that's last dated at 1980. I find AC/DC can sound harsh at the best of times, but this old disc on my current system actually sounds quite good.

 

[Seth=L]

I've got some old early '80's discs and they sound fine, including an AC/DC that's last dated at 1980. I find AC/DC can sound harsh at the best of times, but this old disc on my current system actually sounds quite good.

I don't get it. I have been using an old Magnavox (86') and it sounds just as good as my Toshiba SD-9000 and IMO the Pioneer Elite PD-65 didn't sound that much better than the Magnavox CDB-560 or CDB-650. I have an old Heart CD that sounds excellent as well, it was printed in the early 80's as well.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Compact Digital Discs, what was the big downfall of CD when it first arrived? It seems to me that the players weren't the problem, but rather the mastering of the first CDs. I have owned new and old CD players and I honestly don't notice a significant advantage with High-end CD players over older, not so high-end ones.

Just curious what you guys think.

Seth=L

A couple of things to ponder. At transition time from vinyl to CD, I doubt all the recording or mastering engineers were up to snuff on the transition and the difference. For one thing, vinyl has that RIAA to contend with. Then, CD is rather linear, flat in Fr response compared to vinyl.
I doubt the know how came over night to these recording/mastering engineers.

In the 90s, there was a DBT of one of the first 14 bit players and a new one of that time. Only one person of about 12/15 subjects could consistently identify the CD player. Upon further investigation of that player, it was discovered that it was not working properly, the 10th digit processing was inop, broken.

 

[Bassman2]

Well I just replaced a 7 year old Philips 941 (remember that?) with a Denon 1930ci and found that the philips, while sounding very good, is much too bright and thinner sounding which much less bass than the Denon. Great detail in the upper regesters with explosive dynamics. But with all that the philips sounds just like CD's are "supposed to" if you know what I mean. Where the Denon when contrasted to the Philips has a very "analog" sound to it. More warmth and detail. Keep in mind that I'm no "audiophile", I don't have super human hearing. These differences are very easy to hear.