What to do with bad recorded CDs

Crappy-sounding recordings or crappy-sounding pressings are a fact of life in this hobby. As others have suggested, there are various tweaks that can be applied to a problem CD to make it potentially more enjoyable, and I agree that seeking out better pressings is worth the effort, but I think the ultimate solution is, as Jafant suggested, to kick back and TRY to focus on the joys of the musical content, not the quality (or lack thereof) of the sound. Easier said than done, I know, but IMO a truly great system can capture the inherent good qualities of a poor recording just as much as it can reveal its flaws, allowing one to more easily focus on the musical content. Just one man's opinion!

I toss all bad recordings.  Why store crap that I will never listen to!

Easy solution... buy speakers and equipment that are non-fatiguing and that allow you to enjoy every recording in your collection. Sadly, some of the most highly touted brands out there do a poor job at this. Avoid those brands and/or models within those brands, and you'll live a happier, more musically satisfying life. 

There is much good music recorded less than optimally. Sometimes poorly. If you love the music recording quality will not stop you from listening as long as things are going well. If not there are ways to make lesser recordings tolerable perhaps though always remember recordings are what they are each a unique sounding work of art with unique things to offer.   Much great music may never live up to audiophile standards but that will not stop a music lover from listening.  

OP,

I have a revealing, musical, thoroughly enjoyable, CD-based system that plainly doesn't have a problem with lesser CD's any more than with the exceptionally well made ones...by all means try some of the suggested solutions out on your system (personally I'd start by looking at some sort of power conditioning)...if that doesn't work, please send all your unwanted CD's to me!

Yes power conditioning  is often a ticket to better digital.  

Or or you can always just send your bad CDs to me.  😉

Benellis are not "good" shotguns even when they work. They are over-priced and would have gone belly up if Beretta hadn't bought them. Now they have worse quality control and more new models. Best to buy and give to your guide as a tip at the end of your dove shoot below the Equator.

Power conditioning, power cords, interconnects. And of course top of the line transport dac and digital cable.
Never mind. Bad cds will still sound bad just more tolerable.

How exactly are they "bad" for you that you can't listen to them?

Best,


Erik

What do you have for ac power isolation and conditioning?

What is a "bad" CD? I have an Oppo BD 105 run fully balanced through other components to my Sound Lab U-1PXs. I listen to many old jazz (Charlie Parker) recordings that have been "tweaked". One can listen to the room ambience , and really feels you are at the Club, some of these are off the air transcriptions. Another crappy primitive "off the air CDs" are Siegfried Wagner broadcasts from the 20s and 30s. One ignores the bit of tape/wire noise during the pianissimo passages. I submit I have never heard more stirring interpretations and orchestral dynamic range. No gain riding here!  All of the above are obviously in mono. NB, I have many Wagner LPs, CDs and DVDs I can compare them to and some I like for other reasons that go beyond the scope of this discussion.

 Oh, one has to be careful how one runs the CD player into the amp or preamp so as to effect an output/input synergy based on the linearity of the out/in put stages as well as their resistance. Call the manufacturers' service department to find out what gain levels are optimum and then play it by ear. Moreover, one does not want to overload the input of the following component.

On the other hand there are 70s on LPs and CDs that were recorded of pop and classical that are edgy, especially on the thin vinyl of the time. The reason was as much the cheap TIM-full primitive op-amp multi-mixing consoles as much as the digital transfer. One has to turn down the brilliance control for some of the clipping high ends in the original recordings. Some of these just take the enamel off your teeth on a mediocre system, LP or CD.

All equipment needs adequate amperage. I know of one mono tube amp that runs 6 amps idle and 12 at full output. Two these will these require their own lines or you are going to have to 24 amps out of a 20 amp line. No magic box you stick into the wall will make up for that!  No wonder the system sounds like junk or propel think the amps are defective. That I believe is why you are seeing so many class D amps. Finally agreeing with other people one should consider installing 20 amp lines for all your equipment using copper wire. Consider using a whole house filter dedicated to the service line where it comes into the house: then your computers and microwaves won't go south when lightening strikes, and some even have filtering of noise. They are not as expensive as you may think. What do you think data centers use on a much grander scale? Other stick some of these on the dedicated lines that go to you audio and computer systems, often comprising the entire system today. These will smooth out and protect both sound and equipment. 

 Analogy: have you ever tried to substitute a much lower amperage power supply for Your laptop? It will drive you nuts software wise until you restore the full amperage power supply. The same thing is true with audio equipment, especially those performing digital tricks. If you don't have the juice your components are going to sound poorly and it will exacerbate the sound of crappy CD, etc. Consider this power business a necessary but not a sufficient condition for enjoyable listening.

Sorry for some of the misspelling above, eg propel instead of people, but that is an artifact of nanny spelling correction on this device. Makes one appear illiterate.