[~misfit~[_2_]]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Jens Rodrigo wrote:
"~misfit~" wrote:
I just saw one of my old favourite CDs (and an excellent yardstick
for judging stereos or speakers) in a 'specials' bin. It's Rickie
Lee Jones' eponymous album from 1979. I'm in New Zealand and my
copy, which I bought in about 1980 and gets listened to at least
weekly, was manufactured by Warner Music Australia. This copy that I
just bought (even though my original is still in perfect condition I
like it enough to buy a second copy) is made in Germany by Record
Services GmbH, Alsdorf. I was just wondering, is there likely to be any
difference in
quality / sound between them? (My main system is limping while the
main speaker's mids are getting re-coned and my back-up speakers are
fine for HT but not for critical audio reviewing.)


If you spoke about an analog black disk pressing from Australia or New
Zealand
comparing it to a pressing of Germany I can promise you some
differences in the quality of sound.
But the digital CD pressing of New Sealand and Germany should sound
identical.
Sometimes marketing people like to do the loudness race,
then the compressed CD will sound different; see and listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfBU8mG4csY

Thanks Jens. You were right, the new CD is compressed even though it doesn't
state that it's been re-mastered anywhere on the CD or liner notes (and I
had a very good look...). It is as much use to me as a coaster.

I feel sorry for anyone who might have heard of this brilliantly mastered,
produced and mixed album and how great it sounds and who buys a current
copy. They would wonder what everyone was talking about (the album appears
on many lists of 'the greatest-sounding albums of all time' on audiophile
sites and blogs on teh intarwebs and often I listen to it as a medium to
appreciate the fidelity of my stereo).

As it stands my new purchase is only any good to me as a case and liner to
put a copy of my original CD in while I put the original safely away.
--
Rgds,
Shaun.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche