what speed to burn audio CD's?

[ECHO]

I've just started burning my own CD's and my first few audio CD's were good but not great. The highs aren't really as sharp as I think they should be and the bass sounds a slight bit muffled.

I'm sure that I just need to play with settings a little to get optimum sound quality but I think I remember someone telling me that I want to burn audio CD's at like 2x for the best sounding audio.

Is this true? Also, are there any other tweaks that I can try to make the best possible audio CD's?

BTW, I'm using a plextor 8x/4x/32 CDRW and burning with the software that came with the drive, plextor disc dupe 2000. (I've got Nero and plan to start using that tonight)

thanks!

 

[Noriaki]

I've heard that if you burn slower you get higher quality burns to, but I don't know if it's true.

You should use higher quality CDs though.
Like Kodac Digital Audio Golds
I've never found it to matter for Data CDs, but Audio are pickier.

Try 1 or 2x on whatever CDs you are using now and try 4 or 8x on a Kodac Gold see if either fixes your problems. If neither does try 1 or 2x on Gold Kodac's.

Edit: Oh yeah, they don't have to be Gold Kodac's, those are just my favs, any gold should do fine.

 

[*kjm]

I have a Yamaha 8x8x24 CDRW and use Verbatim CDR's and burn at 8X and dont have a problem with the songs I burn, MP3 or CD to CD.

 

[PliotronX]

Mitsui Silvers are also very good media, sorta expensive though. TDK is almost as good, and is about a dollar a CD now. I burn at max speed (4x) on my Yamaha 4416S, and never had a sound quality issue when burning music CDs. What prog do you use to burn?

 

[ECHO]

Thanks for the input guys.

PliotronX,
I've been using plextor disc dupe 2000 but plan to switch to Nero tonight.

 

[YoungPoodah]

Never had a problem at 8X with my plextor ide writer and cheap imation meadia

 

[Imported]

I usually burn at 12X for most music using TDK Certified Plus and haven't had a problem yet, so I'm sure 8X should be fine. Some burners are picky about media, so you have to try out different types to find the right one. Costco usually has a good buy on the TDKs.

 

[The Stigenator]

I never had a problem buring at 10x on memorex & maxwell cdr's...so much that I even burn across the network at 10x.

 

[Workin']

<< The highs aren't really as sharp as I think they should be and the bass sounds a slight bit muffled. >>


That has nothing to do with the speed you burn. It has everything to do with the quality of your source files.

Data errors will show up in the finished CD as clicks, skips, or silence - not dull highs or muffled bass. We're talking DIGITAL not ANALOG, here.

Seems like you need to prepare your source files better. If you are converting mp3's, then the source is definitely the problem. You can use a wave editing program like Sound Forge or Cool Edit Pro to punch up the sound a little using their equalizer tools, and there are some other tricks you can do using those tools that can help quite a bit. If you are ripping tracks from commercial CD's, then you should be getting bit-perfect (or very close) copies. Agin, errors here would show up as clicks, etc., not muffled sound. You can also punch up these files using a good wave editor.

 

[ECHO]

Workin'
Thanks for all the great info. I'm kinda new at this so I'm still trying to sort things out. Actually, I'm burning directly from store bought audio CD's so I don't think that there is a problem with my source.

I guess I should clarify something...the copies that I am making sound just fine. 99 outta 100 people probably wouldn't even notice a difference. However, the stereo that I have in my car is very high end and my ears are extremely sensitive. Because of this, I can notice even the slightest change in sound quality.

My guess is that, as several people have pointed out, I need to burn my music on better media.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[cloudchief]

You might also want to look into using Exact Audio Copy, a free program that does just what it's name says. It also now supports burning, which for free is pretty darn good.
EAC
You can find a tutorial here:
CDR Burning Software

 

[Bling Bling]

as fast as the burner can go. why else do they make them faster all the time? besides, it's a digital copy, so speed doesn't affect quality.

word.

 

[Workin']

ECHO

You are doing digital rips and not recording the analog output of your CD-ROM drive, right?

If so, please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you may be imagining a difference between your originals and the copies, since you are just duplicating store bought CD's so your source files should be fine (if you are digitally ripping them).


<< My guess is that, as several people have pointed out, I need to burn my music on better media. >>


As I posted earlier, any data errors in the copies will manifest themselves as clicks, skips, or silence. If you don't have any of those artifacts, you don't have a problem with the quality of your discs. It is IMPOSSIBLE for the treble to be softened or the bass to be muffled due to DIGITAL data errors, which are the only kind of error you can get from poor quality CD-R's or errors during the ripping process from the source discs. So, unless you have an analog step somewhere in the chain, which you shouldn't, your copies should be indistinguishable from the originals.

Even if there are errors in your digital rip from source, the CD audio error-correction built into every player will either play it back correctly or not play it at all (inserting clicks or silence whenever an error is encountered). But of course it is best if your CD-ROM drive and ripping software are capable of making bit-perfect copies because then there is less to worry about.

 

[zetter]

Some CD players have trouble reading stuff that's been burnt at high speeds. If you're having problems, try a little slower. I use Mitsubishi Blue CDRs on a Plextor 8220 and no longer have problems with stuff burnt at 8x that I previously had with some other brands of CDR.