burning music files to CD

[ajay556]

I am going to share my experience with my CD player. I feel its becoming like an a classic Marantz or Garrard turntable, or a Reel player as mentioned by one magazine reviewer.

I have a fairly new CD player that plays only CDs. No upsampling, no inputs. I try to purchase products that do one thing only, but do it very well. I wish it did not have XLRs, as I own a tube RCA preamp. 

So I was able to procure a large number of blank MSFL ultradisc Gold discs. I burn all my music from quboz to the gold discs. They sound more musical than my regular CDs and even better than XRCD, Ultra discs, etc. I noticed my CD player is very sensitive to two artifacts - Power and vibration. I have gone several lengths to curb vibration and provide clean power. Addressing these two articfacts transcends the player to another level.

 

I would like to avoid brand names but to provide some reference - I did have a turntable setup that cost 10k (turntable, cartridge, step up, cables included) My CD player with all its upgrades is $8k. My CD player is able to render music with great timing and rhythm. My turntable is very good at saxophones and large orchestral music. Mind you the differences are subtle, most of time especially with new music. Both do vocals equally well.

 

I have decided to do away with my turntable because most of my music collection are vocals and I enjoy compiling my own music. 

I just wanted to share my experience since most of the products go from CDs to files. I did do a comparison at the store with servers and dacs vs CD player. Both were equally capable of producing great music. My final decision was based on my choice of sound - warm and accurate for the least amount of money. 

 

I hope I don't run out of the MSFL blank gold discs as that they are a rare jewel now.

Thanks for reading

 

 

[accwai]

9 hours ago, ajay556 said:

[...] I would like to avoid brand names but to provide some reference - [...] My CD player with all its upgrades is $8k.

 

I believe vintage CD transports that used to be in that price range can be quite cheap these days. You probably need to be lucky enough to come across a low mileage one after all these years of course.

 

9 hours ago, ajay556 said:

My CD player is able to render music with great timing and rhythm.

 

Actually I'm quite curious about your burning setup. What brand and model CD burner(s) you're using? And if you don't mind, is it also possible to tell us your burner hardware interface, vibration control, power supply, burning software stack, host computer OS, burning mode/speed etc?

 

9 hours ago, ajay556 said:

I hope I don't run out of the MSFL blank gold discs as that they are a rare jewel now.

 

Genuine Taiyo Yuden CD-R blanks should be passable for burning second tier stuff correct?

[sandyk]

17 hours ago, ajay556 said:

I hope I don't run out of the MSFL blank gold discs as that they are a rare jewel now.

 I get great results when using these, which sound much better than your normal brand name types from the Supermarkets

 

https://www.pcx.com.au/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductId=3344

I burn them using my PC's internal LG GGW H20L BR writer, which is powered by an internal very low noise and highly stable +12V and +5V (<4uV noise) supply .

Quote

I have gone several lengths to curb vibration and provide clean power.

3M 2552 self adhesive Aluminium anti vibration tape does a great job in reducing vibration when placed under the transport area and in the cover, but it is damn expensive these days. I used my last lot in my Oppo 103 .

[accwai]

15 hours ago, sandyk said:

I burn them using my PC's internal LG GGW H20L BR writer,

 

Question about blu-ray burner optics: Do they have single burning laser for all formats, or do they need separate lasers for blu-ray vs DVD/CD? The former would be kind of like Blu-spec CD

 

What kind of burning speed do you use on those gold blanks by the way?

 

15 hours ago, sandyk said:

[...] which is powered by an internal very low noise and highly stable +12V and +5V (<4uV noise) supply .

 

You mean <4µV noise on +5 and +12 with the rest of the host computer or you have space for a separate power supply just for the burner?

 

[sandyk]

8 hours ago, accwai said:

 

Question about blu-ray burner optics: Do they have single burning laser for all formats, or do they need separate lasers for blu-ray vs DVD/CD? The former would be kind of like Blu-spec CD

 

What kind of burning speed do you use on those gold blanks by the way?

 

 

You mean <4µV noise on +5 and +12 with the rest of the host computer or you have space for a separate power supply just for the burner?

 

My understanding is that it uses separate lasers for each mode , although I would need to check with al.fe who designed this model to be 100% certain.

I always use the lowest possible write speed which is normally not real time these days, and appears to be set by the media used.

 I am however using BR discs for archiving my favourite ripped CDs ,and they sound a little  better than the original CD in my Oppo 103, undoubtedly in part also due to the precision needed in the writer's Optical block , resulting in less read Jitter.

I use a DIY modified John Linsley Hood designed PSU add-on which has around 2 Farad simulated capacitance on both +12V and +5V, powered from the PC's internal PSU to avoid possible earth loops when using an external Linear PSU.

It is fitted inside a spare drive bay.

[accwai]

15 hours ago, sandyk said:

I always use the lowest possible write speed which is normally not real time these days, and appears to be set by the media used.

 

So what actual speed does the burning software report? It appears that the default speed is decided by the burner firmware partly depending on the media in use, but the burner software can override that to anything between the min and max speed on the burner hardware for a specific format. Vintage CD burners can go to 1× pretty much all the time. Premodern DVD burners can normally go down to 8× for CD. But both the min and max speed seem to be rising over time.

 

15 hours ago, sandyk said:

 I am however using BR discs for archiving my favourite ripped CDs ,and they sound a little  better than the original CD in my Oppo 103, undoubtedly in part also due to the precision needed in the writer's Optical block , resulting in less read Jitter.

 

You mean putting CD tracks as individual FLAC/WAV files on a BR-ROM filesystem and play from there? What's the advantage of that over copying the tracks a USB key on demand and play from there?

 

15 hours ago, sandyk said:

I use a DIY modified John Linsley Hood designed PSU add-on [...]

 

Thanks.

[Norton]

On 12/29/2020 at 4:04 AM, ajay556 said:

I would like to avoid brand names

Notwithstanding this, could you detail which CD player and mods you are using?
I’m thinking about getting a “high-ish end” player, and while there are a surprising  number of choices for new players still, I have been v unimpressed with what I see for the money, on paper at least.  Particularly interested if you own or have heard a Hegel Mohican.  I can’t work our whether it is a triumph of engineering, or of marketing....

[Norton]

On 12/29/2020 at 2:06 PM, accwai said:

I believe vintage CD transports that used to be in that price range can be quite cheap these days

I’ve been looking for the last few months and there seems to be something of a stand off at the moment, with owners asking 50%+ of original retail but no one buying (much  of the higher end stuff on UK EBay has been listed for months).

[sandyk]

6 hours ago, accwai said:

You mean putting CD tracks as individual FLAC/WAV files on a BR-ROM filesystem and play from there? What's the advantage of that over copying the tracks a USB key on demand and play from there?

No. They are complete albums as .wav files, (including any separate high quality artwork) for Archival (safety) purposes,

.However the Oppo 103 can play each album folder individually. I have always preferred the sound of the original format over  playing .flac "on the fly". In fact, for serious listening I first convert the .flac to .wav before playing it.

The burning S/W normally gives me several choices, and I use the lowest speed one for burning .