Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!tesla!jeff From: jeff@tesla.UUCP Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: Re: CD.sound Message-ID: <111@tesla.UUCP> Date: Thu, 23-Jun-83 18:09:16 EDT Article-I.D.: tesla.111 Posted: Thu Jun 23 18:09:16 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 29-Jun-83 06:50:42 EDT Lines: 27 Shannon shames his namesake by misunderstanding digital recording and playback. True, garbage on an analogue master will be reproduced as garbage on a CD. But a true PCM master will not have wow/flutter, although some noise (hiss, mostly) might creep in due to bad electronics somewhere. I doubt that all CBS CD`s will be digital at first. Unfortunately, CBS/Sony don`t specify on the disc or in the notes whether the MASTER was digital; on some records Polygram does, and on some they don`t. At least in Polygram`s case this probably isn`t a marketing ploy because some clearly digital masters (the evidence is the CD sound) are not labeled specifically as such. On analogue masters the tape hiss is in fact clearly audible; strangely, on one digital master there is hiss for about 20 minutes of the whole program, which might be attributable to an electronics problem on an alternate recorder or mastering machine. In the 21 CD`s I`ve got so far I`d say about three are overall superb (dynamic range, frequency response from very low to very high, noise level); a couple have egregious flaws like the 20-minute-hiss; a couple would make good LPs or even cassettes; and the rest are, by and large, noticeably superior to anything that could be got from an LP, but inferior to what the CD medium can apparently do. At roughly $20/shot one should be pretty careful about what one is buying, and from now on I`ll wait for interesting music (less Strauss and Tchaikovsky) well performed, and clearly identified as digitally mastered. Let`s all hope that the record companies will soon see that [at least some of us] we are serious about things and will start issuing stuff that`s worth the money, after the novelty value`s worn off. Jeff