Characteristics of different CDPs, and CD vs Vinyl.

[paulf-2007]

I listened to every version on Spotify, every one sounds crap at the start, like it was meant to be like that, God and Bowie only know why. That is frisbee material

[mikmas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoDamvrfUbQ

Listen to the very first bars of this youtube sample and you will hear exactly what I mean. It must be cymbal, but it goes psssssssst.

The youtube version is crap reproduction and the repeated hihat hit comes out the worse for it.

I have a CD version and would say that from many years playing drums in my youth, that is precisely what an ever so slightly open hihat sounds like and is IMV intentional
The amount of 'sibilance' a hihat produces when hit is directly affected by the pressure applied on the foot pedal and (to a lesser extent) the weight of and force applied to the drumstick.

Full pressure closure will simply give a slightly metallic tick ... the lesser the pressure the more the cymbals will 'slish' against each other.

[Mikeandvan]

Can't tell anything listening to some rotten You tube transfer on laptop speakers. And I don't have that song on vinyl or cd to compare. Have you got this on vinyl? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9Xk-VoGqo if so try it, if it's making a mess of that ride cymbal that goes on all the way through then it's some sort of issue with your turntable set-up.

No, don;t know the band. I'll check them out.

[Macca]

No, don;t know the band. I'll check them out.

Best band ever!

[Stratmangler]

Best band ever!

Yeah, I was shocked too!

[Mikeandvan]

Just got my bargain mint Hendrix cd of Axis bold as love, from ebay, £2! It's better than the vinyl version - red polydor 80s reissue, less congested. This could be the way to go now that cds are 10 a penny, I mean why not? Finally getting over my digital phobia...……….

[AJSki2fly]

I have a few records, such as S. Wonder Innervisions where there is much sibilance on certain tracks, namely the first one. Also on Bowies 'Sound & vision'. Having owned very few cds apart from classical, I thought I'd try these lps on cd to see the difference, and lo and behold the sibilance that was there with every single TT and cart I've used has vanished with the cd version. And even though my TT set up is the best its been the cd version still seems to throw up more detail, although it has a glassy quality that isn't so nice, still overall the sq is pretty damn good. CDP is a rather handsome Pioneer PD-8700. I don't want to change - not yet anyway -as this player is mint, but was wondering whether different cdps have different presentations in a way that different TTs and cartridges do? First things first though, I need to go out and buy meself a shit load of cds. They both trounce my streaming set up, but that is only live streaming via iTunes through a Pioneer N-70.

OK I think I may have a possible explanation for you. Firstly I believe you say it is not occurring with all LPs, this is important as it indicates a problem with some only, so it is not likely to be you TT set up. I had a very similar experience with several LP's and one in particular highlighted it very much, this was a copy of Genesis - and Then There Were Three, this is a particularly long at 51 minutes to fit onto a vinyl so any vagaries which pressing it will impact it heavily, especially on tracks near at the centre of the record. So when I purchased it as a very clean near mint copy I eagerly put it on and I was immediately somewhat disappointed, there was quite a bit of sibilance and it just did not sound right, certainly not as I remembered. I did a bit of investigation and found that in the UK/EU there were hundreds of thousands of pressings made of this record and often long runs on each pressing run. So I took the plunge and ordered online a Canadian copy, knowing that only tens of thousands were produce for Canada and a separate pressing run. The result between the two was challenged and cheese. Either greater care had been given to the CA pressing or the UK one was produced near the end of the life of the stamper it was taken from. I suspect this may be the issue with some of the records you are experiencing distortion on. It might be trying another copy of Innervisions, borrow or purchase one. I hope this helps.

[Mikeandvan]

OK I think I may have a possible explanation for you. Firstly I believe you say it is not occurring with all LPs, this is important as it indicates a problem with some only, so it is not likely to be you TT set up. I had a very similar experience with several LP's and one in particular highlighted it very much, this was a copy of Genesis - and Then There Were Three, this is a particularly long at 51 minutes to fit onto a vinyl so any vagaries which pressing it will impact it heavily, especially on tracks near at the centre of the record. So when I purchased it as a very clean near mint copy I eagerly put it on and I was immediately somewhat disappointed, there was quite a bit of sibilance and it just did not sound right, certainly not as I remembered. I did a bit of investigation and found that in the UK/EU there were hundreds of thousands of pressings made of this record and often long runs on each pressing run. So I took the plunge and ordered online a Canadian copy, knowing that only tens of thousands were produce for Canada and a separate pressing run. The result between the two was challenged and cheese. Either greater care had been given to the CA pressing or the UK one was produced near the end of the life of the stamper it was taken from. I suspect this may be the issue with some of the records you are experiencing distortion on. It might be trying another copy of Innervisions, borrow or purchase one. I hope this helps.

Thanks, I think I'm just gonna be buying cds from now on! I'm currently buying up many of my vinyl lps on cd to hear the difference, they are so cheap off Ebay that it doesn't feel like a waste of money. I'm hearing some good results so far. With cd beating vinyl in most cases, or matching it. Although I got a copy of Beefhearts 1st LP on cd, and I preferred the vinyl. Currently hunting down 80s/90s Blue note cds mastered by Ron McMaster, the good folks over at PFM assure me they are the sweet point on that label, cheap and high quality, better than the RVG remasters apparently. I think further listening will tell me which genres are best suited to vinyl or cd.

[AJSki2fly]

Thanks, I think I'm just gonna be buying cds from now on! I'm currently buying up many of my vinyl lps on cd to hear the difference, they are so cheap off Ebay that it doesn't feel like a waste of money. I'm hearing some good results so far. With cd beating vinyl in most cases, or matching it. Although I got a copy of Beefhearts 1st LP on cd, and I preferred the vinyl. Currently hunting down 80s/90s Blue note cds mastered by Ron McMaster, the good folks over at PFM assure me they are the sweet point on that label, cheap and high quality, better than the RVG remasters apparently. I think further listening will tell me which genres are best suited to vinyl or cd.

You may find it a bit hit and miss with rock and pop, early cds from 80’s and even into the early 90’s can be poor IMO due to bad transcription to digital, due to either equipment used or lack of care taken. I have generally found if an album has been re-issued on cd as remastered it is better than the first offering. However there are exceptions , the Led Zeppelin double remastered that was releases in the 90’s I find dull an un-involving, but the later remastered albums are good. Some albums produced in the 80’s are good across the board, a good example being Peter Gabriel’s -So, in fact just last night I and a friend were doing blind comparisons between the lp, Cd and Flac versions, we could just flick from one to other on the pure amp, we could just identify the digital, but it was quite a subtle difference to the lp. But between cd and Flac it was impossible. We both preferred the lp, slighlty warmer, but the digital gave slightly more high end detail. So it’s up to what you like really in that situation.

Have fun hunting CDs

[Macca]

You may find it a bit hit and miss with rock and pop, early cds from 80’s and even into the early 90’s can be poor IMO due to bad transcription to digital, due to either equipment used or lack of care taken. I have generally found if an album has been re-issued on cd as remastered it is better than the first offering.

With odd exceptions I've found the opposite to be true and I actively seek out the early releases. Far from being bad transcriptions (it really is not difficult to make an excellent digital copy of an analogue recording) they are actually very good, dynamic range tends to be better (massively so in some cases) and that does mean they will sound a little thin at low volume, increasing the volume is the solution.