Audiophille CDs.

The other evening I was going through my collection of CDs to listen to in my car. Nothing like listening to the originals. The sound production  is about a million times better than any other.

Its like rediscovering the pleasure of my favourite songs all over again. Over the years, I have collected cds of various genre. There's the current pop, classical (not many) but my favourite is the collection of jazz and blues. Most of these CDs are audiophille cds which I bought at HiFi Shows , exhibition and my favourite CD shop on the ground floor of Ampang Park. Some of these audiophille CDs are very expensive (to me anyway), but are sold at very much reduced price at HiFi shows. 

Playing them on my HiFi set has always brought happines and excitement to me. They compliment each other. One is no good without the other. I have written about my set (my love) somewhere but I will update them .

So what is audiophille CDs ? ( I 'll quote from a web site (http://www.audiophilecds.com/)

"Audiophile - in Latin 'lovers of sound'

One might logically suggest that some of the benefits of audiophile LPs including low surface noise and better dynamics are already present on CDs by definition and therefore there is no need to buy an 'audiophile' release of a CD.

However, while CDs as a format do not have these limitations, they often suffer from the same poor mastering processes (such as mastering from sixth or seventh generation masters) and a 'pile it high, sell them cheap' mentality that results in CDs which can sound shrill, unexciting and just dull. (believe me, these would show very clearly even on reasonably good HiFi sets).

In contrast, audiophile CDs are often mastered from the original master tapes using meticulous mastering processes, allowing the sound of the original recording to be presented as accurately as possible.

Furthermore, standard CDs are often pressed on the cheap aluminium. Most audiophile CDs are mastered onto 24k gold plated discs.

These have the advantages of having a longer life span than traditional aluminium discs and are also more effective as a playing medium.

This is because the gold surface is more reflective and easier for a CD Player laser to read more accurately.

 The gold surface on audiophile CDs allows the succession of 1s and 0s that are stored on the surface to be read as accurately as possible, allowing the CD player to convert the 1s and 0s into the most accurate representation of the analog sound wave that was originally converted into these 1s and 0s.

In a nutshell, analog sound waves that are heard by the human ear are converted to 1s and 0s to be recorded onto a CD, and then the CD player converts these 1s and 0s back into sound waves when the CD is played. 

This arguably results in better sounding CDs which have a smoother, less clinical and more analog type sound.

Some of my brands of these CDs are Chesky Recording INC, Audioquest Music,Ultradisc II, Raven, any of the 'Ultimate Masterdisc' series and a few others. Listening to 'Live' cds or studio recordings - they all put the mediun on a different platform. 

Annnyway......