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Bronze Member Username: Blazingarrow74Chicago, IL U.S.A. Post Number: 23 Registered: Mar-06 | Here's an article (For Art) ... I am seriously intrigued with the notion of copies of CDs sounding better than their counterparts (as explained under "1. Pits in the CD") ... can someone please explain this more ...?! http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue22/nugent.htm |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 3109 Registered: Feb-05 | Once again interesting....more reading or thinking than I really want to do but interesting none the less. I am definitely not a computer expert... |
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Bronze Member Username: Blazingarrow74Chicago, IL U.S.A. Post Number: 25 Registered: Mar-06 | Well ,if you ever pass through Bend, maybe you can stop by and talk to Steve ... or call him up if you're interested ... It could be worthwhile knowledge someday eh ... {^.^} |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 3111 Registered: Feb-05 | I go to Bend a couple of times per year. I enjoy Central Oregon. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aLondonU.K. Post Number: 4135 Registered: Dec-03 | Anselmo, Thanks for that link. I've read it twice, now. It explains a lot of things. In reply to your question... As I understand it, an audio CD can have jitter burned in during production. This means the pits are being read at uneven speed, even with the best audio CD player transport. A computer reads the CD as just a data disc, where exact timing is less important because the digital stream is buffered. Then, when you burn a CD with a better writer than the one used in the original manufacturing process, you have eliminated the jitter in the original disc. Some further comments... I agree with the author, Steve Nugent, about the advanges of "computer audio" compared with real-time playback of a spinning optical disc. The last few days I set up an Apple "Mac mini" with dual Intel processor. I'd also recently got a 250 GB La Cie hard drive for back-ups, and also installed my old stereo hifi in the same office. So I thought "why not?" and "ripped" about a dozen favourite CDs using Apple Lossless to import tracks in iTunes, adding to the other music I already had there. The "iTunes Music" folder is on the external hard drive, connected by USB: it uses an insignificant amount of space, about 5 GB. If I used the whole drive, I reckon it would hold music from getting on for a thousand CDs. The sound is wonderful. The convenience is unexpected; I made some playlists that correspond more with the music on the original discs. So a big multi-CD "boxed set" can go in one playlist, and tracks from a compilation CD can be sorted into separate playlists (I am into "classical" and like sorting by composer). I recently bought a pretty good CD player for about the same price as the Mac mini. The computer is for work and I may not have a chance to make a direct comparison between the two sources. But, now I think of it, I can copy the iTunes folder to a portable Powerbook, and play that through my home stereo system. I am fairly sure the computer DACs are not up to those in my CD player, but one could always use the digital output and a dedicated DAC, as Steve Nugent recommends in the article. The other nice thing about the Mac mini, separating it out as an audio source, is that it is completely silent. It is a real relief not to have that blasted fan on the Macintosh G4 it replaces. The Apple remote control and "Front Row" together make a superb way of selecting tracks, adjusting volume, etc. Also you get all the information you might need on the track being played; anything you decide, from bit rate to dates of composer. It sure beats complicated sequences of keystrokes on a CD player remote control, selected from track numbers on a CD sleeve, after which you are not 100% sure what you are going to be listening to. And all this without an iPod in sight. |