Commercial CD-Rs problem

[A Lark Ascending]

A have half-a-dozen recordings I've bought from musicians who have put out their own CD-Rs - the late Neil Ardley, Steve Berry, a Stan Tracey recording and a couple of English folky things.

I first noticed an oddity on an Ardley recording - there seemed to be a weird interference - like a circulating, rotating swishing noise that appeared part way through the disc and increased in volume at musical peaks becoming a series of regular electronic pops. I assumed it was the disc.

Then the same happened on two Berry discs and a Stan Tracey (a private pressing of his Genesis suite).

This morning I received a folk recording and 3/4 way through - exactly the same.

YET

When I play these discs on my CD recorder (Pioneer PDR 609) I get no interference.

Discs I've burned myself play happily on my main deck (Arcam CD-72).

Any idea what is going on? Is the technology of the Arcam unsuitable for commercial CD-R's; or is it dying?

Thanks for any suggestions. I know there are some knowledgeable audio buffs here.

[Claude]

It looks like your Arcam isn't very good in reading CD-Rs, some types of CD-Rs or discs that contain errors. Many british CD players are known to have a poor error correction, a deliberate trade-off that favors good sound.

You could copy (digitally, on the PC) those problematic discs onto new CD-Rs, of the brand that the Arcam has no problem with.

It could also be that the laser of the Arcam is degrading. Is it exposed to cigarette smoke (the main reason for laser problems)?

Edited March 30, 2005 by Claude

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks, Claude.

That makes sense.

No cigarette smoke here. I have only one addiction!

It also explains something else; my Arcam picks up errors much more regularly than my ghetto-blaster (what a quaint term?) or walkperson.

I'm playing the Ardley (Symphony of Amaranths) currently and there's none of the bother I get on the Arcam.

I'll just have to play CD-Rs on the Pioneer - a simple switch of a button.

Thanks again for your help.

[A Lark Ascending]

Actually, while we are here, can I ask another question.

I recently made some quick copies on my PC for car use.

Now it might just be me being oversensitive, but when playing them they sound a bit 'off' - almost like there is a faint jitter that makes the music sound faintly out of tune.

I've suspected that copying at high speed might lead to poorer sound. I notice there are options to record at different speeds. I'm using Real Player.

For transfering to the PC there are options from 32 kbps to 320 kbps. Which is the best to use? I assume 320.

For burning the default is set at fastest available. There are then options from 4X to 48X. Which is likely to be the most accurate? This has me puzzled. Does 48X mean very fast (and possibly inaccurate) or very accurate (and possibly very slow)?

I usually record on my Pioneer but sometimes if I mess up a transfer (e.g. recording an LP the needle skips and I have to record it again) I download it onto the PC and make up a proper copy from there.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

As you have probably guessed my audio/pc knowledge goes little beyond the basic.

Edited March 30, 2005 by Bev Stapleton

[AllenLowe]

fastest recording speed is not necessarily the most accurate - as I recall 2x was considered best -

[Claude]

It depends on the drive that has to read the CD-R afterwards. Some DVD drives (also used in car CD players) are sensitive to this. Burning at 4x or 8x should be on the safe side.

For transfering to the PC there are options from 32 kbps to 320 kbps. Which is the best to use? I assume 320

These are compression options. If it's about MP3 files, 128kbps is the minimum acceptable. 192kbps is fine for most users, more than 256kbps is unnecessary.

[fent99]

I'm no expert on this stuff but I'm unconvinced about Realplayer as a ripping or writing tool.

EAC always comes recommended for ripping the wav files from cds since it checks for errors and lets you know.

http://www.exactaudiocopy.org/

(support stuff here http://pages.cthome.net/homepage/eac/)

Its easy to download and install (bit fiddly to set up) and the ripping is slow but you do get exact error free clones of the originals.

Writing is less critical but 4-8 times is likely fast enough...

[A Lark Ascending]

Many thanks, all.

I'll fiddle about with those settings.

When I've got the time I'll try EAC as an alternative.

[jazzscriveyn]

I agree about EAC. I have a CD-reader and a CD-reader/writer in my PC. When I converted CDs from the reader it took EAC forever, while on the read/writer it was very fast. That is how I found out that my reader-only is very poor quality so that EAC has to do a lot of error correction.

[John L]

Do the CDRs have (paper) labels stuck to them? I have a few CD players where that exact thing happens to CDRs with labels. As the CD progresses, the problem gets worse, i.e. the noise gets lounder.

I solve the problem by ripping the labels off. Even if a thinner layer of paper stays on the CD, the laser gets through easier and the problem goes away.