Do CD players sound different to each other?

[Calleberg]

Has anyone heard the Rotel RCD 965BX? So obvious that there were no need for a blind tests (not that I knew that was a thing way back then). But I liked it very much... for a while.

 

[tonycollinet]

Why not second-hand records? Because I want to be the first owner. New is new.
Such a question for experts. What affects the sound of the CD player the most?
A user from the Polish audio forum wrote to me that the quality of the CD itself. I guess not silly, huh?

Don't believe everything you read on an audio forum .

If the forum extolls the virtues of expensive cables and similar snake oil - don't believe anything you read there.

 

[tonycollinet]

Has anyone heard the Rotel RCD 965BX? So obvious that there were no need for a blind tests (not that I knew that was a thing way back then). But I liked it very much... for a while.

How do you know it was obvious no blind test was required? It is very possible to "hear" significant differences in sound which do not actually exist, just coming from your cognitive biases.

The only people who say it is "obvious a blind test is not needed" are those who've never done a blind test, and found that suddenly the differences disappear.

 

[Adi777]

Don't believe everything you read on an audio forum .

If the forum extolls the virtues of expensive cables and similar snake oil - don't believe anything you read there.

Of course I don't believe in everything, I have my brain
PS My question is still actual

 

[Calleberg]

How do you know it was obvious no blind test was required? It is very possible to "hear" significant differences in sound which do not actually exist, just coming from your cognitive biases.

The only people who say it is "obvious a blind test is not needed" are those who've never done a blind test, and found that suddenly the differences disappear.

Absolutely, I was expecting it to sound better than my old TEAC 3100, so that part could have been placebo, for sure. I agree with you there.

But it also took a good part of the Slam out of my subs, which I did NOT expect. That came out of nowhere.

I´m pretty sure It had a sound signature of its own, but I liked it, and listening to music was more enjoyable than before so I kept it for quite some time until I replaced it with a Yamaha CDX 1060, and the slam returned.

Anecdotal? Totally, so take it for what it is worth...

 

[tonycollinet]

Of course I don't believe in everything, I have my brain
PS My question is still actual

You mean what has the biggest impact on sound between CD players?

Well assuming they can reliably read the data from the disk - if they can't they can be considered broken - then the DAC and analogue electronics. But this was (should have been) pretty much a solved problem even in the early days - at least from the point of audibility.

Obviously a crap design can allow in distortion and noise, or have poor filtering - and will be audibly different.

Any half way decent design should be audibly transparent - and all of these I'd expect to sound indistinguishable from each other.

 

[Adi777]

You mean what has the biggest impact on sound between CD players?

Not. Which is most responsible for the quality of the player. The quality of the sound being played. A laser, some other part, or maybe the quality of the CD itself, the release.

 

[tonycollinet]

Quality of the sound being played? Undoubtably (IMO) the quality of the mastering. But not of the physical CD - up to the point where it starts skipping.

After that, the speakers it is being played through.

 

[Adi777]

Quality of the sound being played?

Yes, that's what I asked.

Undoubtably (IMO) the quality of the mastering.

So, you think the same, like this person from polish audio forum. CD is the most important.

But not of the physical CD

But this I don't understand. After all, you wrote above that mastering is the most important thing. Mastering, so the quality of the recording on a CD. Or not?

 

[DonR]

Why not second-hand records? Because I want to be the first owner. New is new.
Such a question for experts. What affects the sound of the CD player the most?
A user from the Polish audio forum wrote to me that the quality of the CD itself. I guess not silly, huh?

The quality of the recording. Unless there is a defect in manufacturing or the CD is badly scratched, the CD should sound identical to the recording. This is not vinyl that degrades with each play.

 

[tonycollinet]

Yes, that's what I asked.


So, you think the same, like this person from polish audio forum. CD is the most important.


But this I don't understand. After all, you wrote above that mastering is the most important thing. Mastering, so the quality of the recording on a CD. Or not?

The mastering - the data that is actually put onto the disc is relevant.

The quality of each individual copy of a disk with that mastering on it - pressing, manufacturing quality, damage etc - are not (IMO) relevant up to the point where the data can no longer be read from the disk. If the data can be read without errors - or with fully corrected errors - then there is no quality impact. Even C2 correction (interpolation) is unlikely to be audible.

 

[Adi777]

Okey, what about loudness war?

 

[pvehling]

Okey, what about loudness war?

That is what he means by mastering. There are different masters for many CDs.

CDs can get "rot" over decades and not play, although I have many, many from 30 years ago that have no rot at all.. but most disc rot was from one specific plant IIRC.

All players have a form of error correction to compensate for manufacturing defects, wobble, etc. If a disc is skipping it means it can't be fixed by error correction.

 

[tonycollinet]

Okey, what about loudness war?

As stated by @pvehling that is part of the mastering. Dynamic compression to increase loudness is an element of (bad) sound quality

 

[pvehling]

I bet the people on that Polish forum are talking about SHM? https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/feature/shmcd_allabout

 

[Adi777]

Dynamic compression to increase loudness is an element of (bad) sound quality

I will have to buy CDs carefully.

 

[Adi777]

I bet the people on that Polish forum are talking about SHM? https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/feature/shmcd_allabout

I don't know, but on the other forum is very interesting topic about loudness war:

The Loudness War & Dynamic Range

Problem niby powszechnie znany, ale widzę, że nadal jest wiele osób nieświadomych skali tej tragedii. MATERIAŁY YT GODNE UWAGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydg-ajN1u9o&t=42s&ab_channel=ReduktorSzumuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ&ab_channel=MattMayfieldMusichttps://www....

forum.audio.com.pl

 

[tonycollinet]

I bet the people on that Polish forum are talking about SHM? https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/feature/shmcd_allabout

Well that is some bullshit.

 

[Leporello]

So obvious that there were no need for a blind tests

These are the famous last words before the blind test

 

[bluefuzz]

Dynamic compression to increase loudness is an element of (bad) sound quality

No. Too much dynamic compression to increase loudness is an element of (bad) sound quality. Too little compression is equally bad, if not worse.