Commercial CD's - digital distortion?

ambiophonics
ambiophonics Posts: 726
edited June 2012 in Music & Movies
Just wondering if anyone else hears digital distortion on commercially released CDs. I was listening to a few different albums last night and noticed it on aqualung's "strange & beautiful" CD, track 9 at about 3:40. I have heard slight distortion on other CDs also but can't recall specifics right now - actually I think one of them was Adele's "21" album...

I tried the same track on a secondary system and noticed the same distortion but it was more in the background and harder to discern. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't first heard the track on my main system.

I opened the .wav file up in pro-tools and the section I heard the distortion on looks "squared" off and is definetely the loudest part of the song.

What do you guys think?
2 Channel - Polk SDA-2BTL, Carver TFM-35, Peachtree iDAC, Qobuz streamed via Episode Lynk using bubble UPnP server
Post edited by ambiophonics on
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,203
    edited May 2012
    Yep, blame the loudness wars for this. It has proliferated to many a cd and cd reissue. Very, very common.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • ambiophonics
    ambiophonics Posts: 726
    edited May 2012
    Thanks Heiney9 - it's a shame that this becomes more and more obvious with system upgrades. The ADS L520's I just picked up seem to be a bit more transparent than my other speakers I was using.

    At least I know it's not some strange issue with my system(s)

    Any recommendations on well recorded CD's to check out?
    2 Channel - Polk SDA-2BTL, Carver TFM-35, Peachtree iDAC, Qobuz streamed via Episode Lynk using bubble UPnP server
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,988
    edited May 2012
    Yep, always said as your system becomes more revealing, the bad in audio does too. Which is why many seek better recordings, ditch mp3's, and start upgrading electronics and cables.

    Mapleshade has great recordings, but the variety of music is more so to the jazz/classical side. Chesky is another one that has good redbook cd's.
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,203
    edited May 2012
    One of my constant struggles is balancing well recorded music with my very revealing system. As I've moved up the ladder over the years, many recordings became more painful to listen to. It truly is a double edged sword, the rewards can be great on well recorded music and your ears can be punished with poorly recorded music.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • cnh
    cnh Posts: 13,284
    edited May 2012
    I've noticed this as well. My response--have a lower resolution system that can make almost anything sound OK. Break out a Vintage receiver that's warm and rolls off the highs, a 90s something Sony CDP and a couple of Polk Monitor series (5, 7 or 10--Peerless or the equivalent--we can't let those "highs" run away with the recording!) or the equivalent. And you're good on those CDs.

    Resolution can be a BXXXh! It would, of course, be preferable if recording studios were not messing with the sound, though!

    cnh
    Currently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!

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  • Drenis
    Drenis Posts: 2,871
    edited May 2012
    cnh wrote: »
    I've noticed this as well. My response--have a lower resolution system that can make almost anything sound OK. Break out a Vintage receiver that's warm and rolls off the highs, a 90s something Sony CDP and a couple of Polk Monitor series (5, 7 or 10--Peerless or the equivalent--we can't let those "highs" run away with the recording!) or the equivalent. And you're good on those CDs.

    Resolution can be a BXXXh! It would, of course, be preferable if recording studios were not messing with the sound, though!

    cnh

    So that's why people buy Bose :lol:
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  • PreCd
    PreCd Posts: 786
    edited May 2012
    My story is a surprising one. I have a Steely Dan aja cd, remaster, that has a part in it that has very bad distortion. It is on one track and only last about 2 seconds but it is there. On headphones or speakers. Very surprising.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,722
    edited May 2012
    ambiophonics wrote: »
    Just wondering if anyone else hears digital distortion on commercially released CDs. I was listening to a few different albums last night and noticed it on aqualung's "strange & beautiful" CD, track 9 at about 3:40. I have heard slight distortion on other CDs also but can't recall specifics right now - actually I think one of them was Adele's "21" album...

    I tried the same track on a secondary system and noticed the same distortion but it was more in the background and harder to discern. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't first heard the track on my main system.

    I opened the .wav file up in pro-tools and the section I heard the distortion on looks "squared" off and is definetely the loudest part of the song.

    What do you guys think?

    Read more about here and note that it's not the format, it's the mastering. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • obieone
    obieone Posts: 5,077
    edited May 2012
    It's NOT just standard CD's either. I've got a SACD by Fiona Hawkins that's stupid loud. What really makes it stupid, is, that it's a 'new-age' genre cd?!
    My usual listening level on my set up is between -18 & -25 on the volume. This cd was not nice to listen to above -35.
    It didn't sound bad, just too friggin loud?!
    Weird
    I refuse to argue with idiots, because people can't tell the DIFFERENCE!
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  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,496
    edited May 2012
    I have the Japanese Mini LP YES CD's, and most of them are mastered much too loud. "Tales From Topographic Oceans" is the first that comes to mind. This was a mastering done specifically for the Japanese Mini LP discs in Japan by Japanese mastering techs. It is obvious that the CD's are mastered too loud and there is some digital distortion on the CD's. How unfortunate. Thankfully, the Rhino remaster(s) of Tales has the extended intro and is mastered nicely. It is all about the mastering except in the case of (one example I can think of) The Moody Blues CD and LP of "A Question Of Balance" even the Mobile Fidelity mastering has distortion in it, especially on "Question". I believe this is analog distortion, however and was recorded this way.
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    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....

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  • Obsession18
    Obsession18 Posts: 191
    edited May 2012
    The distortion your hearing is actual clipping recorded intentially thanks to the the loudness wars. There are websites which clearly show that the top of the waveform has been lopped off and looks like a square wave - clipping!!

    I refuse to listen to CD's recorded in this manner, for example the new Van Halen CD, it has been played once and thats it. Like someone else mentioned use a less revealing system, maybe the next time I listen to the Van Halen CD I'll go out in the garage and fire up the old Cerwin Vega D-3's.
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  • gce
    gce Posts: 2,158
    edited May 2012
    ambiophonics wrote: »
    Adele's "21" album...

    Glade I found this thread. I also noticed it on Adele's 21 and thought there was something wrong until I put in Abby Road! Then all was well. Sucks that they would knowingly do this!
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,314
    edited May 2012
    gce wrote: »
    Glade I found this thread. I also noticed it on Adele's 21

    Yeah tried to explain that to my wife when the first CD I played for her on the new Ushers that I have been bragging about getting for over a month was 21...one of her fav's and she told me it sounded better in the home theater...switched the CD to a Mofi SRV cd...then she got the wow factor
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
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  • gce
    gce Posts: 2,158
    edited May 2012
    txcoastal1 wrote: »
    Yeah tried to explain that to my wife when the first CD I played for her on the new Ushers that I have been bragging about getting for over a month was 21...one of her fav's and she told me it sounded better in the home theater...switched the CD to a Mofi SRV cd...then she got the wow factor

    Now shes wondering when you're going to buy some speakers for her CD's! :lol:
    Anaheim Hills CA,
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    2 Channel: Rogue RP-5 / WireWorld Electra power cord / Marantz TT-15S1/ Ortofon - Quintet Black MC / Marantz NA8005 DAC / W4S mAmp's / Synology DS 216+ll-4TB / Polkaudio LSiM703
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  • transmaster
    transmaster Posts: 428
    edited June 2012
    tonyb wrote: »
    Yep, always said as your system becomes more revealing, the bad in audio does too. Which is why many seek better recordings, ditch mp3's, and start upgrading electronics and cables.

    This is so true. I had a Cheech and Chong record, I don't remember which one. The pair where sitting in a restaurant, a waiteress was taking their order and for some reason she said "how about these" and you could hear a zipper unzipping. Now I knew what she was doing but it wasn't until years later and a much, much better system that I heard her bazooms doing a thump, thump on the the table top. I nearly passed out I was laughing so hard.

    I get digital distortion in the form of a very, very distant sound of a telephone ringing. I looked it up and this is yet another artifact of digital recordings transcribed at too high a level.
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