What CD sounds worst the better equipment you play it from?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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I dunno if this should be in here or the HiFi forum but here goes.

For me its Oasis's Definitely May Be, it sounds like its been recorded through a car stereo. When I first had it, I only had a discman at the time and love the album, but now i can't bear hearing it on my B&W speakers. The music is good, I still love the music but it just sound really bad ! This is more a case of the less you hear, the better it is.
 
RHCP - californication

It always sounded like it was recorded too loud, as I hear lots of static and clipping, and it just gets worse the better the system I've heard it on.

I just can't listen to it, gave up and binned my copy of it.
 
Journey - Escape

Worst production quality ever. You don't really notice on radio play, but throw a CD in a quality system and you won't believe how awful it sounds.

For a comparison, put on Boston - Boston. For a 1976 album it sounds fantastic. :)


BUSH said:
RHCP - californication

It always sounded like it was recorded too loud, as I hear lots of static and clipping, and it just gets worse the better the system I've heard it on.

I just can't listen to it, gave up and binned my copy of it.
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That's too bad. You might have been able to rip it to MP3 and normalised it to limit the high volume, then re-burned it. It may have cleaned up.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I dunno if this should be in here or the HiFi forum but here goes.

For me its Oasis's Definitely May Be, it sounds like its been recorded through a car stereo. When I first had it, I only had a discman at the time and love the album, but now i can't bear hearing it on my B&W speakers. The music is good, I still love the music but it just sound really bad ! This is more a case of the less you hear, the better it is.
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That album sounds terrible, you can't hear anything going on, its just a big mush.
 
Nitefly said:
That album sounds terrible, you can't hear anything going on, its just a big mush.
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That's due to them layering the guitar several dozen times on every track pretty much even though its the same thing, just layered guitars doing the same chords/notes.
 
Raist said:
That's too bad. You might have been able to rip it to MP3 and normalised it to limit the high volume, then re-burned it. It may have cleaned up.
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Love the album, just painful listening to it. I did try playing around with EAC and encoders a while back, but I still found that it sounded very tinny, and I could hear artifacts/clipping/static especially during the chorus of songs like otherside. It also sounds very compressed to me, especially compared to say Blood, sugar, Sex, magik. By the Way isn't much better either now I think about it.

seems i'm not the only one who thinks its a **** poor cd sound quality wise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californication_(album)#Sound_Quality

Oasis - be here now, I also remember not being great.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

While the increase in CD loudness was gradual throughout the 1990s, some opted to push the format to the limit, such as on Oasis' widely popular album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, which reached −8 dB on many of its tracks — a rare occurrence, especially in the year it was released (1995).
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No wonder it sounds so good.

Never noticed clipping on a studio recording, only on things I've recorded myself with my guitar when I didn't know what I was doing, setting levels wrong etc.

I suppose if they didn't mix the cd's like this it would loose some of that intensity. Oasis often cited for having "wall of sound". At the time in order to sell records I guess it was more important to sound good coming from your average kitchen radio than concentrate on sound clarity. Appealing to the lowest common denominator and all that.

The trend seems to be for more bass nowdays. Whether it's the tv or some annoying pussycat doll rubbish my sister plays, bass seems to have overpowered everything lately. Of course it might be damage I've done to my ears or maybe this is how good music was always supposed to sound and the technology to replicate it accurately is now widely available. Imo a good system doesn't just focus on the bass but outputs sound evenly at all frequencies. My amp/speakers seem to focus on the bass/drums slightly more than I would like, but then again Fat Of The Land sounds amazing on it.
 
Nitefly said:
That album sounds terrible, you can't hear anything going on, its just a big mush.
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Christ man! That album is one of the greatest rock albums of the 90's.

I never understand this "different opinion" thing ;)

(I can't say I've noticed it sounding worse on a better stereo either. If anything, the other way.)
 
BUSH said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californication_(album)#Sound_Quality
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Blimey. I always thought Californication sounded great. Mainly the drums. I had no idea!! My hifi is ok (Marantz amp, Cambridge Audio CDP, totalled about £500 a good few years ago when i got them in the sales) -- i used Californication (plus others) to try out different setups in the shop -- oh how they must have been laughing at me :(:p
 
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The Cooper Temple Clause- Kick Up the Fire and Let The Flames Break Loose
The Editors- The Back room

Both sound very flat on my new hi-fi :(
 
Scam said:
Blimey. I always thought Californication sounded great. Mainly the drums. I had no idea!! My hifi is ok (Marantz amp, Cambridge Audio CDP, totalled about £500 a good few years ago when i got it in the sales) -- i used Californication (plus others) to try out different setups in the shop -- oh how they must have been laughing at me :(:p
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Send me your system and I'll send you my Philips combi. :p It makes my ears bleed that album on any equipment.
 
darreny said:
your all wrong, title goes to metallica - and justice for all

that'll make your ears bleed
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Did that EVER sound good though? Complaints about it being a bad mix with no bass were there from the start. It's still good imo though
 
Anything by Linkin Park, especially Meteora. It sounds like it was compressed with loss then brought back to CD-size. All I hear on good speakers are nasty artifacts.
 
I wonder if quite a few re-masters are given this 'loudness' treatment to give the illusion of quality and bring into line with modern recordings...

Personally, I can rarely listen to Led Zepelin II, it usually irritates me - I don't know whether that's down to my poor taste :p or the fact that my copy is the 'digitally remastered' one...
 
When Queens Night At The Opera came out my Dad had a decent system and he used to sit there telling me all the mistakes in it so I reckon that must get worse on Mr Sukebes * gear.
For me one of the worst recorded albums is And Justice For All by metallica although my bass player has got a remastered version where a fan has painstakingly put bass guitar and bass dum on it. Can't wait to hear it.

Somebody mentioned Boston for good recordings, well also consider KANSAS - Leftoverture and Point Of know Return.

* - Mr Sekebe in our Hi Fi forums.
 
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