CD duplicate...

I know it sounds pretentious, but I agree. I use Exact Audio Copy and then record onto black cd-r's at a low recording rate (1-2x). The resulting copies have more air and sound better. I have read (although I can't remember where) that in recording it at slow speeds that timing errors or jitter is reduced giving better sound. Any way, it works for me.

Jea48...my listening equipment for digital is:

Sony DVN 775V CD/SACD player
Dynaco Pat-5 preamp modified by Frank van Alstine
Dynaco ST-150 amp modified by Frank van Alstine
Rectilinear III speakers re-wired and modified
Creative Cable Company 12.0 interconnects
Creative Cable Company speaker cables
Creative Cable Company Power Conditioners

I have been able to hear the difference, though, on any decent system I've tried the A/B comparison.

Another thing...Black CD-R's are often used for gaming for very fast loading with low error rates. I've used Memorex Black CD-R's purchased from Best Buy. I've heard that the best are 'Pro-Disc Diamond Black' but I haven't purchased any yet.

Aroc...I do all of the recording on my PC, an AMD 1700 with 512Mg RAM and a simple CD-burner, using an older Aureal Vortex soudncard. I've heard it should only get better if you can use equipment that is external from the PC, but I have been quite happy with my equipment already. The most important parts are using EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to make the copy on the hard drive, and to do the burning at the slowest speed possible (preferrably 1-2x).