Bits Are Bits, Right?

uber, are you looking in the mirror? Eat more fish.

GK
Sorry but no mirrors in my house......

Lalitk.

Totally agree, nice post!

I agree, the source file is all important. Different remasters no doubt sound different. In my car example, I’ve repeated the test several times. When I play the track from my phone’s memory, it sounds better than streaming even with the example same version of the song. The most noticeable part is the bass. From the phone, the bass is much more like a quick “punch,” and when streaming it’s more of a quick “shove,” if that makes sense. “Tighter, faster bass” might be a metaphor I could use.

Last night I copied one of my favorite CDs to a black CD-R and the difference in sound quality between the 2 discs was quite apparent. The treble was much more laid back and “tamed.” I could hear micro-details better. It’s too early to conclude which version is better as they both have their pros and cons. I’m interested in the “why.” Does one disc have more read errors than the other? If not, then I conclude that the way the data (the exact same data, that is) is arranged on the disc matters. The precision of the pit spacing, the width and depth of the pits, and the material of construction of the CDs may play a role. If it’s all the same data and the read errors are minimal, then what is happening before the buffer is having effect on the sound.

mkgus
Last night I copied one of my favorite CDs to a black CD-R and the difference in sound quality between the 2 discs was quite apparent. The treble was much more laid back and “tamed.” I could hear micro-details better. It’s too early to conclude which version is better as they both have their pros and cons. I’m interested in the “why.” Does one disc have more read errors than the other? If not, then I conclude that the way the data (the exact same data, that is) is arranged on the disc matters. The precision of the pit spacing, the width and depth of the pits, and the material of construction of the CDs may play a role. If it’s all the same data and the read errors are minimal, then what is happening before the buffer is having effect on the sound.

>>>>>There are a number of possibilities. One is that the copy routine was copy til perfect. Another is that the laser reads black CD-Rs better than standard silver CDs. It could be there’s less laser light scattering in the black CD-Rs. Just as 24 it Gold CDs have higher reflectivity than silver CDs and usually sound superior. One reason SHM Super High-Performance Material CDs from Japan generally sound superior is the clear layer of the SHM CD is more transparent to the laser than plain old polycarbonate which is only about 91% transparent. Less light scattering. Better optical signal to noise. It’s possible the clear SHM material is stiffer than ordinary polycarbonate and that the CDs are more perfectly round. Another more far out possibility is that copies just sound better, period. Copy an LP to tape, copy a CD to CD-R, copy a CD to tape. No one knows why.

The spacing between pits and lands varies, they represent a series of “words” of variable but specific meaning, the length of pits and lands themselves is also variable. the details are specified in the REDBOOK standard. The geometries involved with depth of pits is also specified in the REDBOOK. The system won’t work if the geometries are not absolutely correct as the laser light beam cancels itself out by wave interference when it strikes a pit. That’s why there is no return light signal for pits, only for lands.

@mkgus,

I hear noticeable differences between the sound quality when streaming through my iPhone over Bluetooth vs wired connection. The wired connection in my car always sounds more dynamic, less congested and smooth.

I have no experience with CD-R, I am either listening to Qobuz streaming or original CD / SACD’s through my CD and SACD players. To my ears, some of my favorite CD’s sounds better through my CD Player (with tube output stage) vs digital copy of same CD stored on my streamer internal hard drive.

To me, it’s all come down to the implementation. The devil is in the details.