If Bits are Bits

[MAB]

Yes. When I was on the floor the first rule was validate the customer’s observations, no matter how stupid. Customers say all kinds of weird stuff. Like improv comedy, you go with it, trying to connect it to something you sell.

We’ll stated!

 

[krabapple]

Hello,

I experienced with my Cary Audio CD-306 Pro that at 44.1 KHz, 16 bit, CDs sound much denser and thicker than files (wave 44.1KHz, 16bits).
Same experience with a simple DVD player, same result! The sound of CDs is denser.

I pointed this out to my specialist hi-fi dealer,
he told me that he had already noticed this phenomenon and had no explanation.

Whoever has a doubt must experience it.

Reguards

Alas C3dr!c your anecdote here doesn't even begin to be convincing proof that there was inherent audible difference.

Your claim that one 'must experience ' it to be convinced, is based on faulty premise.

Let's assume your files are actually ripped from that same CD (i.e., they aren't a different mastering)

What one must do, is make sure the output level of your Cary is matched to that of your file player.

What one must also do, is make sure insidious 'sighted bias' is controlled for.

But one could skip all that and just show us carefully measured output FR of the Cary. That could reveal right away whether it is acting as an equalizer in addition to being a DAC+transport.

 

[krabapple]

That was my first thought too.

Seems odd that a file would play at a different level compared with a CD on the same device - but Ive heard of it happening before. I guess if it has separate chipsets that handle CD audio compared with file audio that could happen.

He didn't explicitly say the files were played by the Cary and his DVDP, though it could be read that way. He just said that file play sounded thinner than playing a CD with a CD player or DVD player.

I would not be terribly surprised if the analog stage of his CDP or his DVDP had a different output voltage than another chain he's using to play files.

Then again, we don't even know if the files he's talking about are actually ripped from the CD in question, or derive from somewhere else.