Identifying bit-rate on CDs

[Head Man]

Can anyone tell me whether there is any way of checking the quality/bit-rate of tracks on CDs?

I have some CDs which seem to sound better than others and wondered whether they were recorded at a higher bit-rate or what(?)

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Can anyone tell me whether there is any way of checking the quality/bit-rate of tracks on CDs?

I have some CDs which seem to sound better than others and wondered whether they were recorded at a higher bit-rate or what(?)

Every CD is 16 bit/44.1 kHz PCM. Sometimes, the mastering engineer will convert the analog to digital at 20 or 24 bit and work on the digital at that point, but it always has to be converted to 16 bit PCM for CD.

If the CD is encoded in HDCD and your player can decode it, there are two extra bits at play, but I'm not sure that both bits are always used.

FWIW, I've never been a believer that 20 bit or 24 bit equates to "good sounding CD". It's all in the mastering, not the bits. I've heard just as many crappy-sounding 24 bit masterings as 16 bit ones.

Later,

Kevin

[Head Man]

Can anyone tell me whether there is any way of checking the quality/bit-rate of tracks on CDs?

I have some CDs which seem to sound better than others and wondered whether they were recorded at a higher bit-rate or what(?)

Every CD is 16 bit/44.1 kHz PCM. Sometimes, the mastering engineer will convert the analog to digital at 20 or 24 bit and work on the digital at that point, but it always has to be converted to 16 bit PCM for CD.

If the CD is encoded in HDCD and your player can decode it, there are two extra bits at play, but I'm not sure that both bits are always used.

FWIW, I've never been a believer that 20 bit or 24 bit equates to "good sounding CD". It's all in the mastering, not the bits. I've heard just as many crappy-sounding 24 bit masterings as 16 bit ones.

Later,

Kevin

Thanks for that Kevin.

I was really thinking more of downloads that I have copied to CDs. For instance I have a significant number of CDs created from e-music which seem to vary in quality. I know when I look at the downloaded .mp3 file I can identify the bit-rate at which it was created eg 256kbps, 320kbps etc, but when I then burn it to CD this information seems to disappear. Is there any way of identifying it from the CD?

[Claude]

There are tools which try to identify the source material of music CD-Rs. I don't know how and how good they work.

Tau Analyzer - CD Authenticity Detector