do burnt CD copys sound as good as originals?

If you normally rip your CDs with Apple Lossless, should you change that to a non-compressed format for the CDs (or tracks) you wish to burn to new CDs?

Apple lossless should not lose any information - this is one of the few commonly used audio compression algorithms that is NOT lossy. When you burn an audio CD it should give you a perfect redbook CD by converting teh compressed file to redbook (provided the apple software and burner are working fine)

Thanks.

Does anyone know how to edit songs for burning, such as to clip just a portion
of a song? I want to make some CDs for component evaluations and don't need
entire selections in many cases. Not something you can do in iTunes, is it?

Drubin, is there any chance that your panasonic dual tray CDR actually copies via the DAC and ADC rather than making a bit perfect copy ? This would certainly explain degradation. It would be a ridiculous design, but we are talking consumer electronics, and sound quality likely plays much less of a part than the simplest, cheapest design.

If I copy a CD by using my PC and treating it as a data disc and having the computer do a simple "dupicate disc" I can hear absolutely no difference from the original.

I'm with shadorne ... it should make no difference, unless the CD is badly scratched, and the computer CD-rom drive has better error correction capabilities than the transport in your CD player.

Interesting thought, Sean.

I have made a bunch of copies and playlists and I used to think the copies sound the same if not better, Then I upgraded my transport and today I think Original CDs sounds better.

There are some details; Black CDs sound a litle muffled in the highs, cheaper CD-r do sound worst. If you are really carefull and use EAC to rip and burn at 4X or even 2X then it will be very hard to tell the difference.

I did hear a test in the Genesis room at RMAF with a black CD against the original (Jazz at the Pawnshop) and the copy did sound better by at least a 10% margin!!!
That was the best setup I have ever heard BTW!!!

I guess If you are carefull enough and have the time for it you may be rewarded!
Me, I`m going back to the originals.