CD-R Media audio quality

For quite a while I have noticed rumours about audible differences between different makes and models of CD-R media. I finally got up from the sofa and made copies of a compilation CD using EAC http://www.exactaudiocopy.de ensuring that there were no errors introduced in the ripping or writing.

I have spent a couple of evenings listening and I cannot honestly tell which CD-R is playing.

Has anyone actually heard a difference between media and if so what did they hear?

 

I can't say I have heard differences between brands. Nowadays I use an audio [seperates] burner, so I use the audio flagged discs. I have a suspicion that the copy is "softer" than the original sometimes [on a Densen B400 CDP], but nothing I would lose sleep over. After all, it is a copy isn't it?

cheers,

Graham C

 

Using Nero Burning ROM, and TDK or Infiniti discs (usually the only ones I use) and a 32x Liteon burner, I can detect no difference whatsoever between the original and the copy.

 

That's the point - is it an exact copy or a similar version. My listening still says that if there are no errors then I cannot hear a difference. Mind you, if the errors are small I sometimes can't hear them either...

 

A CD-R copy is an exact copy. 100% identical. Even jitter is not an issue when making copies since jitter cannot be stored on the disc, it's only something to worry about when doing D/A conversion.

However, it wouldn't surprise me if different types of CD-R are easier or harder for a CDP to read. If the "pits" are not so well defined then the CDP may have to do more work to read them and that could affect the sound quality down the line.

Supposedly there are differences depending on the recording speed used (if using a PC). Personally, I never burn audio CDs at more than 4x. It seems logical to me that the faster you burn the less precise the pits on the disc will be allthough I have to admit I've never made a comparison of a CD burnt at 1x and one burnt at 16x (the max of my recorder).

Michael.

 

Ya I've tried similar tests and can not tell a difference between brands, even if I use unbranded discs, but there is a difference when you burn at difference speeds, well at least on my burner anyway (HP 9410?), between 1 to 4 times its ok, but after that, you can hear a degradation in the quality of the music which gets worse the faster you burn, this seems to happen on any type of disk I try, this could be model spefic I'm not saying it will happen on everyone elses burners, its just something I notice on mine.

 

More psychoacoustics ha ha? A CDR is an identical copy. I've seen some funny ideas in my time on the forums.

 

Cant say I have ever noticed a difference between burning at 4x and say 32x. But then I've never compared them, and when the copy really matters to me I tend to do it at a lower speed for peace of mind. Then again, I dont really see why it should sound any different, but IME discs burned at higher speeds are more difficult for the player to read (this is very obvious in my car).

 

That's exactly why they would sound worse. If the laser servo is having to work it's a*se off trying to read the thing it's going to introduce far more noise and jitter into the proceedings.

Michael.

 

I tend to burn at 2x MOre for peace of mind than anything. However, a friend did a copy of an album for me the other day and there's some horrible *noise* on it. I've not heard the original, but I doubt it'd be on there. I'll check. It's a sort of sibilance, and a high pitch tone which once noticed is hard to ignore.

MO

 

Certainly a CD-R should be an exact copy but when I test CD'd burnt at higher speeds (>8x) or using XP's native CD burner software I find that errors (missing and offset data) have crept in.

In addition to this is the quality of the original material - was it a CD to CD-R copy done in a two player system? Was the source copied to hard disk first and then checked for errors against the original CD?

This is the reason I use EAC for copies that I want to listen to at home - for the car it doesn't matter.