gts@wjh12.UUCP (G. T. Samson) (09/14/85)
Does anyone out there have a list of the CD's that are really totally digital? That is, if the package has markings on the back, they should be "DDD". Is there a list that's commercially produced? If not, can someone put it together? Thanks muchly. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: G. T. Samson Title: The Evil MicroWizard Quote: "No matter where you go...there you are." -- B. Banzai Other_Quote: "You speak treason!" "Fluently!" -- The Doctor ARPA: gts@wjh12 [preferred] OR samson%h-sc4@harvard USMail: Lowell N-43, Harvard U., Cambridge, MA 02138
bourne@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Bourne) (09/16/85)
> Does anyone out there have a list of the CD's that are really totally > digital? That is, if the package has markings on the back, they should > be "DDD". Is there a list that's commercially produced? If not, can > someone put it together? > > Thanks muchly. > G. T. Samson Let me assume that one of the reasons Mr. Samson is requesting this list is because a CD labelled DDD inherently sounds better than one labelled ADD or AAD. If this isn't the case, I wanted to make the following point anyway! I hate to rain on your parade, but just because the CD says DDD doesn't mean it's going to produce sonic perfection, or have a total absence of hiss for that matter. A few cases in point: My copy of Glassworks by Philip Glass on the CBS label says it's a digital recording, which should make the SPARS code DDD or DAD. However, the first track could convince a deaf man that the digital master wasn't used when it came time to make the CD. On the other hand, the Fresh Aire series by Mannheim Steamroller on American Grammophone, Dark Side of the Moon and Meddle by Pink Floyd on Harvest, and some analog recordings on the Windham Hill label (George Winston and Liz Story, for instance) have "successfully" made the transfer to CD with almost unnoticeable amounts of hiss. The moral of the story is: It doesn't matter how much quality went into the original engineering of the recording (digital or analog), if the CD master tape is produced from an N-th generation analog tape, the CD is going to sound like $#@&?!. As for Mr. Samson's original request, ALL Telarc discs are DDD and I've never been disappointed with the sound quality on any of my Telarcs. The liner notes tell how Telarc makes the transfers...the right way. On the other hand, I would be wary of any CBS CD, DDD or otherwise. Most of the sound quality ratings in Digital Audio for CBS disks, DDD or otherwise, are very low. dave bourne at decvax!cwruecmp!bourne
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (09/18/85)
Re the CD code of "DDD" not guaranteeing freedom from hiss and suchlike analog-derived defects, due to the digital master being made from analog tape that might be "n"th generation: Mayhap we need a new code, like "DDDD" or "Completely Digital" ["CD"!] that means that there were never *any* analog intermediate stages at all between the initial A-to-D conversion after the air-borne sounds created microphone voltages (or electronic devices generated signals that fed into the mixer board) and the D-to-A conversion in your home CD or PCM player device? That is, all recording, editing, and mix-down/processing/sweetening/whatever was done in the digital domain. No analog conversions and redigitizing of any kind ever happened (of course, there would be D-to-A for monitoring; these converted signals would then only be listened to, never re-recorded). Is this possible with current technology? If possible, is it so expensive, or the equipment so rare or hard to use, that it is very seldom done? Are there any commercially-available recordings that would qualify for this designation currently available? Will