Re[2]: CD's vs LP's (I love it

["Ian M. Derby" <csc2imd@cabell.vcu.edu>]

> >A truly good system will easily point out the limitations and strengths of 
> >CD's (and LP's).  As adamant as you are about the quality of your system I 
> >would think you'd hear some limitations.  I can only think of two reasons why 
> >you wouldn't:  Your reference for judging sound quality is other inferior 
> >systems rather than live music, or you have a very 'forgiving' system whose 
> >inaccuracies gloss over CD limitations and simply complement conventional 
> >CD's.  But as long as you're happy with what you have I guess that's the most 
> >important thing.
> 
> Sorry, I didn't state my point very clearly.  I was trying to say that most 
> people buy their systems from KMart for $399 and have about 15 "components" 
> that don't do much else than boost the bass and high end and flash a bunch 
> of lights, and come with speakers that are not even close to flat response. 
> *These* are the systems that lose the subtleties between CD/LPs.

You've hit the nail on the head Kevin.  I don't know if this was a
general misconception or not but I believed back in the early 80's
(before I bought my first player in '86) that every CD player would
produce the same sound.  

My first player was a $250 Pioneer (it didn't even show the time) in
1986.  At the time it was great because it was more novelty than
anything else.  I played my 3 CD's (Led Zep IV, Tull's Aqualung, and
Clapton's 461 Ocean Boulavard; back then the CD section was only 10
ft long if that) endlessly. 

Between then and 1990, I bought a Yamaha receiver (which took my
former Technics component to town) and a $400 Denon CD player.  It
was when I bought my second CD player that I learned about
differences between players.  The store had my old Pioneer and
proceeded to do a side by side comparison.  I couldn't believe it.  


Anyway, the $400 Denon started acting up so I decided to make the
upgrade instead of making the repair.  It was the greatest purchase
I ever made.  I bit the bullet and bought a $750 Denon DCD-1560.  
Works great to this day (going on five years) and plays scratched CD's 
with ease. Sometimes I plug my discman in the system just to hear the 
obvious differences.  The Sony sounds like mud, while  the Denon plays 
everything with a crisp response.


So maybe if you were comparing a CD played on a discman to an LP I
can understand the other point of view.