[net.audio] New CD owner is disappointed

cjy@charm.UUCP (Charles J. Yashinovitz) (09/24/84)

here goes:

Last week I became a New CD owner. I am a little disappointed.
I hear noise very similar to tape hiss between tracks on popular disks
and during the quite passages on a classical disk.The noise is not 
exceptionally loud, but I can still hear it. I am convinced the source 
of the hiss is not my amplifier because if I hit the "STOP" button on 
the CD player, the noise stops. 

The unit: Technics (sp?) SLP-8. 

The disk: Label =  PROARTE DIGITAL.
Minnesota Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
It was supposedly recorded using the "3M Digital Recording System"


Is it common for a malfunctioning filter to cause this kind of problem.
Am I expecting too much?  I keep reading about the uncanny quiet between
tracks etc...

I should mention that I do not possess "golden ears" by any stretch 
of the imagination. I just wanted to get rid of tape hiss and record
crackle.

Any comments would be appreciated.


                       Charlie Yashinovitz
                        charm!cjy

karn@mouton.UUCP (09/25/84)

"Digital Recording" doesn't mean that a disc will be ABSOLUTELY noise free;
the signal out can be no better than the signal in.  Popular CDs are often
made from analog master tapes; I agree, this is a rotten practice, but you
have to admit that the CD is still better than an LP of the same album.

Even with digital masters, there are plenty of noise sources: microphone
preamps, room noise, analog mixer panels, etc.  I bet that if you actually
MEASURED the levels of noise you're seeing on your CDs and compared them
against peak output, you'd find that the CD is the first mass recording
medium which even allows you to hear these other noise sources by not covering
them up with its own media noise.

Phil Karn

ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (09/27/84)

First, someone else should check their copy.  There are other
sources of hiss such as the amplifiers and mixers in the recordng
process.  It may be recorded into the disk.  I have the cheaper
SLP-7 and notice no hiss generated by the player itself.  That is,
no hiss in the speakers.  The mechanics hiss rather loudly on their
own without amplification.

-Ron

thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (09/29/84)

cjy@charm.UUCP (Charles J. Yashinovitz) writes:
>
>Last week I became a New CD owner. I am a little disappointed.
>I hear noise very similar to tape hiss between tracks on popular disks
>and during the quite passages on a classical disk.The noise is not 
>exceptionally loud, but I can still hear it. I am convinced the source 
>of the hiss is not my amplifier because if I hit the "STOP" button on 
>the CD player, the noise stops. 
>
>
>                       Charlie Yashinovitz
>                        charm!cjy


What you are probably hearing is "ambient" noise.  The CD is so quiet as
a medium that you can hear the noise of people breathing, etc.  Sit in a
"quiet" auditorium sometime, you'll be surprised how noisy it really is.

=Spencer