Why does the copy sound better than the original

12-04-12: Geoffkait
An interesting experiment would be to make a copy of a commercial audio cassette. If the copy sounds better than the original cassette would that automatically eliminate fuzzy pits, jitter, wobbly discs, black CD-Rs, crappy CD players and scratched polycarbonate from the list of candidate explanations why copies of CDs sound better than the originals? No, not really, but it might be an indication, some evidence, that there's something else going on, something much more mysterious, more, uh, disturbing. Anyone STILL not see where I'm going with this?
Geoffkait

My bet is the original, the cassette, sounding better.
Same when I make a CD copy of a good sounding vinyl LP.

From my limited experimentation with CD copies, the original CD sounds better than the copy. Especially in the case of a good sounding CD with female vocal and piano solo. The CD copy has less fullness, body, than the original CD..... A little thin sounding to my ears....
Just my experience, YMMV.
Jim

Jim, try CD-R's made by Taiyo Yuden (now part of JVC). Also, if you haven't, burn them at a much slower rate than the burn speed they are rated for.

Hi Al,

Yuup that's what I used..... Branded name at the time by Sony, Maxell, ect, made in Japan. (I still have a couple hundred or so of the old blank Maxell factory fresh, made in Japan by Taiyo Yuden, CD-R audio CDs.)

Equipment.
Bought new Sony W222ES as well as a Pioneer PDR 609 Recorder. Speed, real time recording (1 X.

Tried burning CDs on PC computers with Exact copy, liked them even less.....

I suggest you try making a copy of a well recorded CD with a female vocal and or piano music material.
Focus your listening on the female vocal and piano.... Tune out all others..... Post back your results.
Jim

Al,

Thanks for taking the time to do the CD copy to original CD listening test experiment.
Jim

Al, but I thought you used one of those fancy CD-Rs for the copy, one with superior jitter characteristics. See, that's what's so puzzling - why you say the copy sounded worse than the original even though a superior low jitter CD-R was used for the copy and the data streams were bit for bit identical. Do you see I mean? Am I missing something?
12-11-12: Geoffkait

Geoffkait,

Worse? Where did Al use the word worse? You need to brush up on your reading skills.

As for the Taiyo Yuden, made in Japan, CD-R blank disc they are superior to the cheapo CD-R disc with the silver burn side made in the likes of Taiwan.

Al, also wanted to confirm you were using the same player for the comparison, since you just mentioned that the design of the player was a variable.
12-11-12: Geoffkait

Again those reading skills.....

12-09-12: Almarg
I performed the comparison using both my Daedalus Ulysses speakers, with VAC amplification, and my Stax electrostatic headphones. The CDP is a Bryston BCD-1, and the preamp a Classe CP-60. A lot of the circuitry in the preamp is not in the signal path during headphone listening, because the Stax headphone amp connects to its tape outputs.

Geoffkait,

Why the hard-on?

Al took the time to do the experimentation and listen for the differences between the copy and the original.

So what's your problem?
.