ark@rabbit.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (02/03/84)
I just took delivery on a Sony CDP-101. I picked that model because I got a good deal on it and because I wanted to subsidize one of the inventors of the process. Anyway, a few comments: 1. I'm pleased with the sound. I now have Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations in both CD and LP versions, and tried the experiment of playing them both at once and switching back and forth between them. The CD version was obviously quieter, with somewhat more dynamic range, but apart from that I could discern no differences that could not be accounted for by a slight level mismatch. HOWEVER: (1) my friendly little record store sells the LP for $9.95 (I think) and the CD for $17.95. (2) I buy a lot of records from Musical Heritage Society, where they cost $4.95. On average, I do not think their quality is significantly better or worse than the ones I pay $8.25 for, though they tend toward obscure artists. On the other hand, I get to buy a bunch of stuff that I'm not sure I'll like, knowing that at least I'm not risking much. Many of their recordings are among my favorites. (3) Compressed dynamic range is sometimes useful. Orchestral CDs have such a tremendous dynamic range that you really can't do anything other than sit and listen. You cannot, for instance, reasonably play an orchestral CD during a dinner party, because it will appear to be long periods of silence punctuated by occasional crashing chords. I may eventually have to buy a compressor for when I want to use a CD as background music. (4) It may well be a decade before I can buy any significant fraction of the sheer variety of stuff on CD that I can on vinyl. ON THE OTHER HAND, I do intend to go buy CDs of those pieces that I listen to frequently, if only because I won't wear them out and don't have to turn them over. The Beethoven quartets, the Brandenburgs, Bach's harpsichord partitas, and so on.