[sdiy] [OT] DSD mastering question

[Andre Majorel]

On 2006-11-28 17:10 +0100, jbv wrote:

> anyway, here's a completely OT question : I recently bought a couple of
> CD reissues of old Soft Machine albums on Sony Japan, using the new
> DSD mastering system.
>
> According to a few articles I've read on the web, it seems that
> this new DSD technique is related to SACD format which seems to
> require very specific players with very specific DACs... But I'm
> experiencing a huge and amazing sound quality improvement (in
> terms of S/N ratio and sound clarity) on my old equiment (a
> regular CD player bought 6 or 7 years ago) compared to previous
> CD reissues, which I guess used standard ADD mastering
> techniques...
> 
> any rational explanation to that ?

Certains ADCs used in the mastering process (for example the
Sony PCM 1630 that were apparently standard in the eighties)
were low-fidelity. That could explain the clarity issue.

It's possible that some form of DSP noise reduction was used on
the new master.

Sometimes, the quality goes down in later pressings. The
deliberate application of clipping and excessive compression is
what passes for mastering these days.

To make meaningful comparisons between DSD and PCM, you have to
first eliminate all those factors.

You might want to check rec.audio.pro where this has been
discussed at length.

-- 
André Majorel <URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/>
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