what about CDs being played on a computer?
eh? eh?
what about CDs being played on a computer?
eh? eh?
Depends on a lot of things really. The computers sound card, the format of the song being played from the computer, Ect Ect. I think it's all already been covered in this thread already.
because your music will sound more dynamic with this triple shielded, braided cable that is 99.8% oxygen free, has tungusten diamond inserts for enhanced clarity, and music travels in waves trough the cable, and we cut it up just right so that the wave hits the connection at the exact right spot for superb detailed reproduction of audio.
(I'm not even making this up)
'George Clinton meeting Kraftwerk in an elevator'
Computers have the potential to sound better than a Cd player because they can reproduce music at higher quality than CD (24 bit).
But you need a good soundcard.
And there are hifi Cd players that sound amazing as they are.
However, the quality of the sound is also affected by the quality of all the components in the supply chain.
Without spending a fortune it is possible to get clear enough sound from a computer.
I use modified Alessando headphones and a Fiio DAC headphone amp. They both cost very little but sound nice enough to my ears.
Although CD is 1970s technology created as a compromise between quality and size, it is almost as good as can be for normal ears. Hence it has lasted so long. But it is well overdue for an update, I wish higher quality FLAC would become standard.
As for the sound quality of DJ equipment. It is not even close to hifi.
Computers can sound better because they're not limited to 16/44.1 and prosumer (at best) converters and analog processing, but from a DJ's perspective that doesn't matter. It depends on the converters the computer uses, what comes after them, and which one is run correctly.
If you're talking just about DJ sets…the answer is whichever one is neither clipping nor limited to all hell…which tends to be CDs or SSL over Traktor because NI doesn't believe in legitimate metering…but only if the SSL DJ had a clue how to set it up because their defaults suck.
I'm convinced that bad metering (mostly NI's fault) and DJs not understanding how digital audio works is 100% of the reason why there are people who think CDs sound better than Computers. Those people are right…because NI doesn't care about sound quality and SSL is still fighting a loudness war that we all already lost.
Last edited by mostapha; 02-19-2012 at 02:11 PM.
Last fall I ripped the remastered version of The Cure's "Disintegration" into iTunes as an AIFF file and afterwards the CD started playing while still in the drive. It sounded nice and loud and then I played the AIFF version of the same track and it wasn't as loud. It's supposed to be an "exact" copy with no compression but whatever. I started out as a laptop DJ in 2003 and have only used CD decks a few times. Even though I think CDs sound better (and I'm sure a good vinyl setup sounds better yet - just never DJ'd on one of those) the convenience of the laptop outweighs any of the sonic limitations. And drunk people at a wedding or a bar aren't going to notice any difference.
You had sound check on in iTunes preferences. It applies auto-gain and compression if necessary. Playing a CD doesn't.
I should of started off with " why is there a difference in sound of a song 320kbps played through your pc and that same song recorded to cdr and the cd sounding better?
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