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It's a perfectly valid question. On one level, there is a finite amount of data on a CD, so in theory there is a cap on how good one can sound. However, it's a hell of a lot of data in actual fact, so isn't as limiting a factor as you might imagine. There was a time when high end audio was about reproducing the original sound as accurately as possible, the so called "audiophile" route. However, for someone like myself, it's about the music at the end of the day, rather than implicit sound quality. A fair few manufacturers are now following this route of producing "music" rather than something that is neutral and sterile.

Yes, there are some disks I have that are going to sound crap (quality wise) through a really good system, but most of them sound pretty poor through my current system as well, so there's not really any loss there. However, a number of recordings I have take on a whole new level of enjoyment when you get to hear everything that's there. A number of disks I have that I had marked down as "muddy" or poorly recorded have really come to life when played on higher quality kit.

So whilst CD has a finite limit in it's information storage, unlike say vinyl, most systems at the moment don't give you all of that information when you play CDs on them.

Not sure that answers the question, but hey.

With regards to ultra-high quality recordings, I've never really found that to be a problem. It's more a case of how good the original recording was rather than the format it's produced on. There are vinyl releases of albums that sound far worse than their CD counterparts, simply because there wasn't the same level of time put into the production (one doesn't simply put the same source onto CD and vinyl, you tend to remaster music for one, then the other). I guess I'm kind of fortunate in that with the odd exception, the bands / musicians that I really like put a hell of a lot of effort into producing a good recording. I've listened to small smatterings of the current X-Factor generated detritus, and despite some incredible recording facilities / engineers / budgets etc. they all tend to sound rather flat and insipid, not counting any comment on "musicality" (whatever that actually is ;) )

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Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:40 am
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All recording formats have a limit to how much information can be stored on them (and that includes vinyl), it's what you use to extract that information and what you do with that information after you've got it that makes all the difference.

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Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:53 am
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Thanks for that - answers the question perfectly. I was curious to see if by having a high-end system like this you'd restrict what you could listen to, or if you'd end up having to buy new music from specialist recording labels - guess not, which makes sense, really :)

So does your new stereo come with an iPod dock then?? ;)

Cheers, Pete.


Sat Apr 24, 2010 3:24 pm
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petermillard wrote:
So does your new stereo come with an iPod dock then?? ;)

Cheers, Pete.


Well there is the Chord Electronics Indigo, at around £8000 if you're interested ;):

Image

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Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:06 pm
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What really annoys me is that some CD releases are massively compressed. This is especially true of CBS re-releases and compilations. In theory CDs are better than vinyl in terms of dynamic and frequency range, but when you put an idiot in charge of the mixer it can all go a bit Pete Tong...

It also annoys me that digital downloads are still for the large part quite low quality. There are some specialist labels who release DVD Audio quality material, but they don't have a lot of artists.

Given that raw multi-track cuts for most new material is recorded to a vastly higher standard than CD, to my mind it's a crime that it's not released as at least 24bit 96KHz resolution. You could still fit an LP on a DVD with no compression, so why oh why is it not the norm? The standards have been around for over a decade so why do they insist on throwing the detail away!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio

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Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:41 pm
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Agreed, in every way, shape and form!

At the end of the day, two points stand out:

1. Most people simply do not notice the difference.
2. I wonder how well the X-Factor style pop stars would do, in much the same way that many film stars were concerned about how their skin would look in high definition television, their complete lack of ability would be seriously exposed I suspect.

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Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:14 am
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JJW009 wrote:
What really annoys me is that some CD releases are massively compressed. This is especially true of CBS re-releases and compilations. In theory CDs are better than vinyl in terms of dynamic and frequency range, but when you put an idiot in charge of the mixer it can all go a bit Pete Tong...

It also annoys me that digital downloads are still for the large part quite low quality. There are some specialist labels who release DVD Audio quality material, but they don't have a lot of artists.

Given that raw multi-track cuts for most new material is recorded to a vastly higher standard than CD, to my mind it's a crime that it's not released as at least 24bit 96KHz resolution. You could still fit an LP on a DVD with no compression, so why oh why is it not the norm? The standards have been around for over a decade so why do they insist on throwing the detail away!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio


Probably because very few people actually bother to listen to music - they just stick it on their iPod and use a pair of iffy earphones. If the market was bigger they'd probably pay more attention to it.

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Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:13 am
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My mother-in-law came up with a great idea for helping to fit any potential hi fi upgrade into the dining room. She suggested sitting one of the speakers inside the built in cupboard and simply opening the door when I wanted to use it.

Suffice to say, I near pissed myself with laughter at that one.

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Thu May 13, 2010 10:42 am
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jonlumb wrote:
My mother-in-law came up with a great idea for helping to fit any potential hi fi upgrade into the dining room. She suggested sitting one of the speakers inside the built in cupboard and simply opening the door when I wanted to use it.

Suffice to say, I near pissed myself with laughter at that one.


Awww, dear of her.

How about, no?


Thu May 13, 2010 2:36 pm
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