CD writers

Posted by: John on 06 September 2000

Has anyone had experience working with CD writers? I purchased one over the weekend and was surprised. I purchased the Backpack latest model. I am not 100% happy with the audio quality. I am loosing elements of the high end and a small element of grace in the presentation. Is this to be expected? or are there ways to make a "perfect" copy? Are there any writers that are known to work specifically well with audio?

John

Posted on: 06 September 2000 by Mick P

John

I have copied about 50 CD's and I have found that the quality of the blank CD to be the critical factor.

I have purchased an unlabled brand and the results were similar to yours.

I then purchased some Kodak discs and the results have been excellent. The copy is as good as the original.

Also I have been advised by the resident computer engineeer in this building that the 75 minute disc gives significantly better results than the 80 minute version.

Hope this of use to you.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 06 September 2000 by Former member

I had a Philips CD writer connected to the digital output of my Rotel 950 CD player.
I didn't like the quality of the recorded, moreover many of them couldn't be read by my Alpine car audio system. I sold it when I realised I was making copies of my original CDs for my friends for free.
Form another point of view, the use of a CD recorder is somehow illegal, or at least immoral because it is not respectful of the work of musicians. I'm happier now without it.

I also used to record CDs from my friends, listened to them, then I purchased the original if I liked it and gave the copy away.

However, from a technical point of view, the quality of CDs recorded via the digital input was higher than those recorded from the analogue input. But, as everyone knows here, Naim CD player don't have a digital output, and this would help in staying away from such rubbish

Stefano.

PS I've been told that copies made by PC CD writers are generally of a higher quality (a friend of mine has tested and confirms so) but I haven't made any comparison

Posted on: 06 September 2000 by Rico

John

you might find this CD Primer as valuable as I have.

Tips: -

Write at 1xSpeed. Essential.

Use great software - there should be recommendations posted here shortly (anyone?)... I KISS with EasyCD-Creator as supplied with my Yamaha drive for reasonable results.

Rico - musichead

ricomuzik@hotmail.com

Posted on: 07 September 2000 by Steve Catterall

Getting the media right is critical - avoid no brand disks at all costs.

Also the quality of your audio extraction is critical. Always extract to your hard disk first.
The best software I've found is called exact audio copy which you can get for free at http://www.exactaudiocopy.de

The best CD drives for audio extraction (and burning) that I've come accross are the Plextor ones, although I'm sure that other are fine too.

Contrary to Rico's experience I find that write at 1x speed to be detremental, and 2x gives better results. I remember reading somewhere that this may have something to do with the fact that at 1x speed the laser is burning for too long on each part of the disk - and that 2x gives optimal burning time. Can't remember where I got that from though - but I do find I get better results at 2x (or even 4x) than at single speed.