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Bits Are Bits, Right?

So I'm currently heading down the path of exploring which CD-Rs sound best in my CD player, along with what burn speeds sound best and what CD burners make the best CDs. I already know from my research that the more accurately the pits are placed on the CD (e.g. less jitter in the recorded data), the better chance I stand at getting the CD to sound good. There is a counter-argument to this idea that goes something like this: "Bits are bits and as long as the CD player can read them, the accuracy of the spacing doesn't matter because everything is thrown into a buffer which removes the effect of any jitter written into the data during burning." I know I don't agree with that logic, but for the life of me I can't remember the technical reasons. I know I used to know. Haha! 

So who here knows why buffers don't solve all of our problems in the digital realm? How come timing accuracy matters in the stages before the data buffer?
128x128mkgus
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Just recently, I was driving down the road with a friend when they plugged the phone into the car and the sound quality was much better than usual. I asked what they did, and I found out they were playing songs off the phone’s “hard drive,” whereas I am usually streaming from Tidal.

Yeah. What I thought. Crap so bad you can tell its crap even in a car. And there’s guys come on here, what’s the best $5k speaker/amp/cable/whatever to pipe my Tidal crap through? So it doesn’t sound quite so crappy, I guess. Or hear exactly how  Then there’s guys try and pretend this can all be magically solved with a DAC or whatever. Right. As if.

mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
Yep, I love Tidal but I don’t stream in my audio system. It’s nice to have when guests come over so they can play whatever song they want to hear but for me, it’s physical media or nothing. Now maybe things can be improved with a high quality reclocker or some other technology like asynchronous DACs, but I’ve long noticed that even when streaming through my DAC sounds good, it sounds even better from a CD.
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
2,826 posts
 
In my system Quobuz is at the very least equal to my library stored on a Synology NAS (sometimes even better).

Oz



uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Not sure what you guys are streaming or using but not my experience at all!
Qobuz hires at 24/192 played back through my MHDT Orchid into BAT vk300se sounds spectacular.

Anyone who just disses streaming for the sake of it without actually trying a decent setup is not being fair to the media one little bit.
big_greg
6,554 posts
 
Glad you are liking the Orchid uber. I have mine in my computer system. It sounds better than my turntable in that system by a considerable margin and the turntable, cartridge and phono stage cost close to three times as much as the Orchid. In my main system, I'd say digital vs. analog is a toss up, with each doing some things better than the other. Again, much bigger investment in the vinyl rig. 
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