SHM-CD anyone?

F1nut
F1nut Posts: 50,746
edited March 2008 in Music & Movies
I ran across this info about a new material used for the play side of redbook CD's. It seems limited to issues in Japan and seems to be very popular. Has anyone here heard one of these SHM-CD's?

http://www.universal-music.co.jp/u-pop/special/shm-cd/about/index.html

The site is in Japanese, so you'll have to use Babel Fish to translate.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/



CD Japan has a nice list of what's available.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/search.html?type=AC&restrict=ALL&strict=&word=shm
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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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    Danny, do you know anything about this?
    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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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited February 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    Danny, do you know anything about this?

    I only heard of such CDs....and they're just CDs, IMHO. Have you read this thread at stevehoffman.tv about SHM-CD?
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    Thanks Danny and roger that on being just CD's. I read the link, not a whole lot there, but then again there's not a whole lot any where about how they sound. Maybe I'll grab a few and find out for myself.
    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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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited February 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    Thanks Danny and roger that on being just CD's. I read the link, not a whole lot there, but then again there's not a whole lot any where about how they sound. Maybe I'll grab a few and find out for myself.

    I am thinking SHM-CD is similar to XRCD, which ultimately is still good old CD. I really don't think a good sounding CD needs to be a XRCD or SHM-CD as long as it's done right. Of course, that's hardly the case in real life. Nonetheless, despite often getting trashed for its sound quality, regular aluminum CD can sound amazing.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    Danny Tse wrote: »
    I am thinking SHM-CD is similar to XRCD, which ultimately is still good old CD. I really don't think a good sounding CD needs to be a XRCD or SHM-CD as long as it's done right. Of course, that's hardly the case in real life. Nonetheless, despite often getting trashed for its sound quality, regular aluminum CD can sound amazing.


    What I have gathered is that they are using a new coating on the play side, that no other remastering, etc. has been done.

    I agree 100% that the shiny silver disc can sound amazing, I'm listening to one right now. It's all in the mastering.
    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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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited February 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    What I have gathered is that they are using a new coating on the play side, that no other remastering, etc. has been done.

    I agree 100% that the shiny silver disc can sound amazing, I'm listening to one right now. It's all in the mastering.

    Given that CD is a non-contact format, I really can't see how this can improve sound quality.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    They say the new material has greater clarity, therefore the laser can read the info with less errors. I'm not sold on the idea yet.
    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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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    Well, my curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered a few. I'll report back after I get them. I will say that they seem to selling out of the popular issues rather quickly.
    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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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    Here's another discussion on these new SHM-CD's.

    http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?gmusi&1202583238



    Does anyone else here care about better sounding CD's?
    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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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited February 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    Does anyone else here care about better sounding CD's?

    I am. However, some of the best-sounding CDs were first pressing CDs due to their flat transfers from the master tapes. I tried one XRCD and the emphasized treble scared me away.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited February 2008
    LOL.....I know you are. I'm hoping there are others.

    I agree about the XRCD's and I'm afraid these SHM's are going to be the same.
    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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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited February 2008
    I'm curious too.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited February 2008
    My XRCd's have all sounded really good, until I got the Tina Turner Private Dancer XRCD. Not sure why they thought Tina's voice should sound like that :(
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited March 2008
    Ok, my new SHM-CD's arrived Friday and I've spent enought time listening to form an opinion. I have the remastered CD's of the 2 SHM-CD's I bought and from what I can tell the SHM-CD's are using the same mastering, so I feel the comparisions are fair.

    The first thing I did was to examine the play sides. The SHM-CD is crystal clear, just like looking into a mirror compared to a CD, which looks somewhat cloudy in comparision. This is exactly what they said it would be.

    Now, for the sound. After far too many comparisions, at times I thought I could hear a little something extra here and there on the SHM-CD copies, but on at least one song I felt the bass was better on the CD version. Hmmmm? I can say that the SHM-CD's do not have the boosted treble like the XRCD's, so that's a good thing.

    Bottom line, I can't hear enough of a difference, if any, to make me buy another SHM-CD.
    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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  • Polkitup2
    Polkitup2 Posts: 1,623
    edited March 2008
    Good to know. However, maybe you need to upgrade your entire rig to better hear the difference :D
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  • schwarcw
    schwarcw Posts: 7,341
    edited March 2008
    Thanks for the research Jesse, I've been watching this conversation between you and Danny and info on these. There are a lot of well mastered redbook CD's out there. What I don't understand is that many of them are imports?:confused:

    From the Steve Hoffman Forums I learned of the Canadian release of a better mastered Amy Winehouse "Back to Black". My friend has it and I've been trying to get my hands on it and compare it to the US release.

    Anyone heard the most recent Richard Hawley? It has some great mastering. Check out some of the tracks at Amazon, etc. Mastering is very good.

    RichardHawley.jpg
    Carl

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited March 2008
    I should add that the 2 remastered "regular" CD's sound pretty good to begin with and that the 2 SHM-CD's certainly sound as good. The reason I wouldn't buy another SHM-CD is the cost involved, not that they didn't sound good.

    Carl, it's interesting that you bring up imports. They seem to have better production facilities and quality control than US made stuff, which can result in a better sounding CD, but not always. Some of the Japanese imports I've bought are a little too hot on top, others are stellar. The one thing I've noted on all the Japanese CD's is that the outer edges are well formed and smooth as are the inner edges, unlike most US CD's.

    Steve Hoffman did a remaster of The Who, Who's Next CD that's reputed to have the best sound. The kicker is that it's only available from Canadian sources. Why? Anyway, I bought a copy and it does sound better. Not great, but better.

    What kind of music does Richard Hawley play?
    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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  • schwarcw
    schwarcw Posts: 7,341
    edited March 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    What kind of music does Richard Hawley play?

    English artist, I would label as adult contemporary. I've heard several of his songs from the latest release on public radio here. Sounded good to me so I bought it.

    Anyone own the Japanese version of Norah Jones "Come Away With Me"? I heard that the US SACD was produced from a 16 bit 44 MHz source, essentially redbook morphed into SACD. If true, I was hoping to find a SACD version produced from the master tapes.
    Carl

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,746
    edited March 2008
    Ok thanks, I'll put him on my to buy list.
    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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  • Danny Tse
    Danny Tse Posts: 5,206
    edited March 2008
    schwarcw wrote: »
    There are a lot of well mastered redbook CD's out there. What I don't understand is that many of them are imports? :confused:

    Me as well.
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited March 2008
    I should be receiving Tool's 10,000 Days import any day now. I'm curious if there's any difference from the US version.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • ninerbj
    ninerbj Posts: 870
    edited March 2008
    I should be receiving Tool's 10,000 Days import any day now. I'm curious if there's any difference from the US version.

    I would be interested to hear if there is a difference...keep us informed.
    "she had the body of Venus, with arms."
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