do burnt CD copys sound as good as originals?

Absolutely identical!!!! Most comlpaints about dupes are due to using crap equipment, crap media and burning at too fast a speed. My dupes are as good or better than the originals. I walked into a high end shop one day and the manager tried to lay that line on me. I said not my dupes!! I challenged him to a blind test, he declined because there is no way he could pick the original except by sheer luck! I use an Apple G4 computer with an on board drive, and a LaCie external drive for DVD;s. I burn only at 1x sometimes 2x for dvd's The dupes turn out Identical and flawless!! I use any decent media like TDK or Verbatim for everyday use, and MItsui Gold cd-r's for the finest high quality music. Mutsui now has a Gold DVD, the first on the market, as far as I know. These disc used by MOBILE FIDELITY are superb! 300 year archival lifespan is incredible! Try mitsui.com or mam-a.com.
Slow down, don't be in such a hurry!! I also use a Furutech disc demagnetizer(which I sell), which makes discs sound fantastic, If you're heavy into digital and burning, the Furutech is a must!!! Also the Cardas test disc is superb, I use it routinely to clean the up the signal path with its demagnetizer tracks 1&7. This might seem like fanatical overkill, but you will produce consistenly high quality dupes by using this routine!!

Good luck to all!!

Kudos to Shadorne for a superb post. I couldn't agree more. This new wave of so called "remastered" discs are pure garbage!!! They take a decent or even great original, compress the @#$* out of it, pump up the level, and try and pass it off as something new or better. This kind of sonic trickery only appeals to the ignorant masses, and has no place in the audiophile world! It's hard to believe that any artist or engineer could listen to this trash and think it's an improvement. The goal over the last 20+ years is to make CD's that sound better, not worse!! We've come too far to go backwards. Compression strips music of its emotional power and impact, that's why live music always blows us away, it's not just volume, but sheer dynamic power that keep us captivated!!

I am taking a stand though, I recently returned 3 CD's I bought from Amazon.com for this very reason. Thank god I still have the original versions!!
It's sad that I have to cringe everytime I load a new cd, wondering if they pulled this trick and ruined another piece of quality music!!