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later CDs more compressed?

L

linnaudio

glad my Naim isnt really Linn
I had a paul weller CD a few years back that i used to love, nice to chill out to. Now from what i remember it was a half decent recording. Anyway i couldnt find it so bought a new copy but when i played it it sounds very compressed. no range what so ever. Ive noticed this with loads of the newer cds recently. I have an Alica Keys CD that should sound really good but is flat as f**k. Do you think its possible that when the do re-runs, if thats what you would call them, they are more compressed than the original CDs done 15 years back?
 
I'd be surprised to find the same CDs bought with a fews years gap between them differ in this way, unless one is remastered or advertised as a remix of some kind.
 
maybe its just my expectations from CD have grown over the years, I was gutted though, a real let down
 
Which Paul Weller CD was it?

I have some older Weller CDs and could rip a track or two from it so you can compare.
 
yeah you can mate but the system ive got for playing off. Mac doesnt compare to my CDP so it wouldnt be very fair TBH. The CD ive been listening to was actually Stanley Rd
 
linnaudio said:
maybe its just my expectations from CD have grown over the years, I was gutted though, a real let down
Click to expand...

Nothing of the kind, sounds to me like you have one of the remastered issues and are comparing it with the earlier release.

The original CD sounds fine and there are plenty of them around.
 
I have Wild Wood and Stanley Rd, bought on their release and both sound fine, in fact very well recorded.

Paul Weller is highly questionable though....
 
Gaius said:
I have Wild Wood and Stanley Rd, bought on their release and both sound fine, in fact very well recorded.

Paul Weller is highly questionable though....
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thats how i remembered them, the original one i had was bought when they were released or there abouts but the new one sounds turd. Just have to try a few used ones of amazon and hopefully get lucky
 
I wonder how AccurateRIP sorts this out; there must be a database of the each of the audibly different releases but how it could be perused?
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I can't remember when it came out but mid '90s sounds about right, google him and get the date.
 
linnaudio said:
I had a paul weller CD a few years back that i used to love, nice to chill out to. Now from what i remember it was a half decent recording. Anyway i couldnt find it so bought a new copy but when i played it it sounds very compressed. no range what so ever. Ive noticed this with loads of the newer cds recently. I have an Alica Keys CD that should sound really good but is flat as f**k. Do you think its possible that when the do re-runs, if thats what you would call them, they are more compressed than the original CDs done 15 years back?
Click to expand...

What would be an interesting exercise is, if you manage to locate an original copy, to compare the old and new for playback levels. I've noticed a steady climb in recorded signal level which is what, I believe, is responsible for these newer CDs sounding compressed as the available headroom is reduced.

Comments?
:cool:
 
DevillEars said:
What would be an interesting exercise is, if you manage to locate an original copy, to compare the old and new for playback levels. I've noticed a steady climb in recorded signal level which is what, I believe, is responsible for these newer CDs sounding compressed as the available headroom is reduced.

Comments?
:cool:
Click to expand...

yeah me too, new cds are defo louder than the older one. My Pink Floyd Cd's are the quietest ones ive got and also by far the best. As you say there is a lot more head room which i assume allows for more dynamic range which is exactly what i feel this Paul Weller Cd has lost, not to mention nearly every other cd done from 2000 on IMO
 
Avalable new via Amazon for £3 or SH for £1.25 inc postage. Easy. Check another copy, stick the spare one on here for loose change (or at the price, use it as a coaster.)
 
linnaudio said:
I had a paul weller CD a few years back that i used to love, nice to chill out to. Now from what i remember it was a half decent recording. Anyway i couldnt find it so bought a new copy but when i played it it sounds very compressed. no range what so ever. Ive noticed this with loads of the newer cds recently. I have an Alica Keys CD that should sound really good but is flat as f**k. Do you think its possible that when the do re-runs, if thats what you would call them, they are more compressed than the original CDs done 15 years back?
Click to expand...
There were complaints a few years ago that the dynamic range of CDs was being increasingly compressed in some sort of "volume war". Quite who was fighting (radio stations?) and where they were fighting (does anyone choose a radio station just because it sounds "louder"?) I don't know, but I'd suspect that remastered CDs would also suffer from this.

Years ago, we would worry that LPs might be pressed from a master that was a copy-of-a-copy of the original. Digital supposedly put an end to that, but we can never rule out the actions of market-driven scum (the mildest word I could come up), can we?
 
Far too many remastered cds are overly compressed, mainly to sound louder, in
your face, and there is an arguement that "young people" like this.

Hence the growing value in earlier 80's CDs (that we all thought sounded terrible!?) that may not always have the detail of the remaster but are more
likely to have a flat EQ and less compression.

You can almost lose the will to live reading all about this
at www.stevehoffman.tv where there will certainly a thread comparing
the two versions. You can also search the forum via Google.
 
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