Very informative folks. I plumbed by CD collection again and the ear agrees with you Gtfour45 & Mlsstl. Some of my "remastered" CDs are clearly superior to the early 80's CD releases, and also superior to the original vinyl (sorry analogists). Some of them, though, are victims of the "loudness wars." I find it interesting that the volume control on my Musical Fidelity preamp can change as much as 45 degrees after playing one of the boomy, bloated & butchered discs. It seems to me that better quality offerings come from Rounder, Warner Bros., Rhino and a the smaller labels. Any way to avoid the "loudness" without buying first??
Compressed vs. "Remastered" CDs
Hello all. I am a music lover but not an engineer by any means. Can someone explain what a "remastered" CD is, and if that term necessarily or usually means the analog signal has been compressed or rounded-off, over-digitized, etc. There are many remastered CDs that I think sound better than the early 80's releases, but I have read some negative articles about the remastering process. By the by, why do certain CDs, such as Beck "Sea Change", for example, sound cleaner and sharper than others? Can anyone enlighten me?? Thanks.