[Riordan]

this is about king crimson's "larks' tongues in aspic" - i have the "30th anniversary edition" 24 bit HDCD remaster (european, virgin records) - and much of it sounds absolutely AWFUL.

how come? it includes the worst distortion i have ever heard on cd - "exiles" and "easy money" sound like an extremely dirty vinyl record with the needle covered in dust - it's that bad.

is there some problem with my source not being HDCD-compatible? i wasn't thrilled by the sound quality of "red" (same edition), but it sounds ok - this here doesn't. as much as i like the music, i can't bear to listen to it.

does anyone here have this same edition? does it sound ok in your system?

my rig: cambridge audio d500 se > corda HA1 > dt880/akg500

 

[chadbang]

I bought a HDCD once and it sounded lousy on my non-HDCD player. I suppose they're supposed to be compatible and not having an HDCD source shouldn't make a difference - but I never bought another HDCD. I didn't hear the "extreme" distortion you did, but there was something sharp and brittle about the sound I got out of the disc.

 

[Magic77]

I don't have Lark's Tongues, but I do have Red, Discipline and Thrak which all are also HDCD compatible.

Like chadbang said; it shouldn't matter whether your CD player is HDCD compatible or not.

I did not have any problems with the CD's I mentioned. Maybe you just got stuck with a defective disc? Can you still exchange it for a new one?

 

[Masonjar]

I dunno but the 1989 Cd version I have sounds pretty crappy too.

-jar

 

[Braver]

yeah, have that one too. I think it's kinda charming in a way, but indded, Lark's... and Red don't sound that great. I think it's just not recorded too well.

nevertheless, does the music rule or what?

 

[Riordan]

thanks to all of you - so i guess it's not the HDCD as such but the actual recording, and maybe i've really gotten a defective disc. as i've said, "red" from the same edition sounds ok - not great, but ok. the music of course is beyond greatness

but what's the point of putting out a HDCD ( i guess the production isn't cheap) that sounds worse than most red-book cds?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

It should be just a notch quieter than Red, but I remember the fidelity being about the same. I ripped (from two CD's I owned -- both the HDCD remasters) "Fracture" and replaced a track on Red with it (to make a really excellent album, BTW!), and the result was pretty smooth. If you're sure you're not just hearing the guitar distortions ("Fracture" in particular, has good use of dynamics), then you may either have an old copy or a defective copy. Are you sure you got the HDCD copy? If it was at a used CD store, it may have been swapped (by the seller, not by the store, of course).

 

[Riordan]

it's actually not ALL bad - half of it is fine...

tracks one and two sound fine, but track 3 ("exiles") is almost unlistenable.

i hear some kind of distortion over voice, strings, and most noticably the bass - not all the time but throughout the track. i'm again reminded of an extremely dusty pickup on a turntable - i hate that sound! the guitar is fine though, and the distortion doesn't seem to stem from clipping, because low passages are affected as well.

on track 4 ("easy money") the bass is ok again, but now most of the drums (hi-hat especially) sound "dusted".

track 5 ("the talking drum") seems fine again until distortion starts after about 5 minutes. the bass starts lean and mean and clean but distorts along with the drums as soon as it gets loud.

track 6 (larks tongues 2) is far louder overall, yet has no (unintentional) distortion at all, it sounds as clean as track 1 again - as does my copy of "red". not perfect, but fine to me.