What is "good" redbook playback?

[vwap]

This might seem like a somewhat stupid question... but I'm wondering, what exactly is "good" redbook playback?

I was reading a thread on the Sony 755 DVD/SACD/Redbook player earlier today, and someone [don't remember who..

] was saying something like the DVD/SACD is good, entry level playback, but the Redbook sucks. Alternatively, people have said that the SCD-CE775's Redbook is above normal...


What qualifies something as "good" redbook and vice versa?

THanks!

 

[DanG]

In case you didn't know, redbook playback refers to the way a machine plays back regular audio CDs. Whether a machine has "good redbook playback" is a normative question but is similar to asking whether one headphone is better than another.

 

[bifcake]

That's a tough question, but I'll try to answer it the best that I can.

Ultimately, a good redbook player is the one that sounds the most natural and musical. To break that down, it would mean that the player must be detailed, yet not sound tinny, flat frequency response (or at least as much as possible), not emphasize one frequency over others, good sound stage (ability to pinpoint where the sound is coming from, a three dimensional sound), and ideally, it should make the listener forget that they're listening to a CD player and immerse them in the musical experience.

 

[vwap]

Quote:

Originally posted by DanG In case you didn't know, redbook playback refers to the way a machine plays back regular audio CDs. Whether a machine has "good redbook playback" is a normative question but is similar to asking whether one headphone is better than another.

hehe.. yeah.. I know what redbook playback is.. but basically, what qualifies the playback as "good" or "bad"?

I think bifcake put it pretty well though...

anyone else have any qualifiers for "good" redbook playback?

 

[carlo]

Quote:

anyone else have any qualifiers for "good" redbook playback?

It doesn't tempt me to give up digital in favor of analog. Digital through many components has hardness on brass, acoustics that lack body, has exaggerations at the top and bottom of frequency extremes, a suckout at the mids, and lost (or worse hyper) detail. Quality redbook playback doesn't fatigue me like inferior playback does. Of redbook components I've heard the cheapest one that I call "good" is the NAD c541i refurbished/b-stock.

 

[RickG]

"Red Book:

The Red Book is the 1980 document that provides the specifications for the standard compact disc (CD) developed by Sony and Philips. According to legend, the document was in a binder with red covers, originating the tradition for subsequent adaptations of CD specifications to be referred to as variously colored books. The Red Book described the CD's physical specifications, such as the tracks, sector and block layout, coding, and sampling. Sony and Philips referred to the discs as CD-DA (digital audio), defined as a content medium for audio data digitized at 44,100 samples per second (44.1KHz) and in a range of 65,536 possible values (16 bits).

The CD Format:

According to Red Book specifications, a standard CD is 120 mm (4.75 inches) in diameter and 1.2 mm (0.05 inches) thick and is composed of a polycarbonate plastic substrate (underlayer - this is the main body of the disc), one or more thin reflective metal (usually aluminum) layers, and a lacquer coating. CDs are divided into a lead-in area, which contains the table of contents (TOC), a program area, which contains the audio data, and a lead-out area, which contains no data. An audio CD can hold up to 74 minutes of recorded sound, and up to 99 separate tracks. Data on a CD-DA is organized into sectors (the smallest possible separately addressable block) of information. The audio information is stored in frames of 1/75 second length. 44,100 16-bit samples per second are stored, and there are two channels (left and right). This gives a sector size of 2,352 bytes per frame, which is the total size of a physical block on a CD.

CD data is not arranged in distinct physical units; data is organized into frames (consisting of 24 bytes of user data, plus synchronization, error correction, control, and display bits) which are intricately interleaved so that damage to the disc will not destroy any single frame, but only small parts of many frames.

The Red Book specifications form the basis for all later CD technologies."

Red Book sounds best when upsampled on the Philips DVD 963SA.

 

[vwap]

Quote:

Originally posted by RickG Red Book sounds best when upsampled on the Philips DVD 963SA.

Thanks for the post Rick

After reading a bunch of reviews.. I'm hooked... I ordered the unit from J&R this morning, even if it is backordered... <g>