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Andy Evans November 8th 04 08:46 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
For those without scopes reports of building experiments will be aural. That's
a fact of life.
Not really. It is a choice that you (and some others) make.

I think both statements are true.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 08:47 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
It is completely reasonable for people to ask for advice and information.
However it is, in turn, completely reasonable for those who are invited to
assist to point out what may be required in order for progress to be made.

That's quite fair.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 08:55 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
When we ask you to do the real *listening* tests, it is not in
expectation that you will come back here with some wonderful new
scientific principle that we were unaware of, but in the hope that you
can move your understanding on a bit. Patronising? I hope you don't
see it that way.

Hello Don - Yes - that does make things clearer. No, as you say, that isn't
patronising. It is, as you say, helpful. I apologise if I seem to have
misconstrued this (and to Jim as well, who always makes helpful points).

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 09:06 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
1) this ng is for those who measure with equipment and who measure with their
ears

1. Most emphatically no. Listen any way you like, and post whatever opinions
you like, but if you announce the discovery of some effect that the rest of us
believe to be impossible - be prepared to defend
it, not moan about being challenged. (DP)

Well, this ng most emphatically IS for people who measure how they like. You
are quite right to say "If you want us to believe a statement, supply
measurements and proof" No problem. But I believe I was saying from the start
"I have made an observation which I believe I hear and I have no idea why, plus
I don't have measuring equipment so I'm not in a position to measure it. Has
anybody else observed such a thing". If you want to say "I don't believe you"
that's fine. In purely scientific terms the burden of proof lies with the
person making an assertion - fair enough. This doesn't make a statement like "I
have always found girls with first names ending in the letter a to be more
passionate" entirely uninteresting.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 09:14 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
4) to simultaneously ask for scientific methods and make fundamental mistakes
in measuring the intelligence of others is hypoctitical.

4. Is it not fair to call somebody who wilfully fails to follow a method he
knows to be the only one that yields a true result unintelligent?

"willfully fails to measure" - is this the same as "does not have measuring
equipment"?
"the only method" - you have yourself said that in audio we both measure and
listen
"someone who wilfully fails to measure is unintelligent". Correct me if I
appear to be wrong here, but I thought that the most widely accepted methods
for measuring intelligence were intelligence tests. I'd just include a
statement from one of the most compulsive measurers on the ng which is about as
hypocritical as you are likely to find:
"Character assassination seems to be the only debating tool you tubie vinylite
bigots have left"

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Dave Plowman (News) November 8th 04 09:23 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article ,
Andy Evans wrote:
Since we know in advance that there are those on the ng wthout measuring
equipment, to imply that they should not have made a statement without
measured data would be effectively to gag them. They have as much right
to make observations as the next man, so I would regard gagging ng
members as wholly unacceptable, even elitist.


Err, no one can 'gag' anyone on this newsgroup.

However, you don't need any particularly specialised equipment to do
comparison testing at its most basic level. All that's needed really is
not to have sight of what the combination is you're testing. After all, if
the 'improvement' really is there, it will disappear after the 'tweak' is
reversed, and re-appear when it's reinstated.

--
*The more I learn about women, the more I love my car

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Tat Chan November 8th 04 09:30 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Tat Chan
wrote:



Actually, CD uses a form of the Reed Solomon code. Though the Hamming
code would provide error correction as well.




Not sure of all the details, but yes IIRC it is a form of cross interleaved
RS code. I think this is a 'block' code equivalent to a hamming code.


I haven't done this in a while, but IIRC the Reed Solomon code is a type of BCH
code, which itself is a cyclic code.


However the channel bit stream is encoded on a number of levels between the
sample data and the disc.


did you mean 'cross interleaved code' when you said 'encoded on a number of
levels between the sample data and the disc'?

Slainte,

Jim


Tat Chan November 8th 04 09:33 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
Jim Lesurf wrote:

In article , Tat Chan
wrote:

Rob wrote:




Rob, getting the 'data off the disk' in a reliable manner is the only
thing that matters in this context. If the output stream of 1s and 0s
from an undamped and damped transport is exactly the same, then the
damping doesn't make a difference.



Slight quibble. The above assumes we can then convey the bitstream to the
DAC with no unintended spurious effects. The most well-publicised version
of this is 'jitter' in various forms.


Yes, I thought the OP (Andy) was asking if there was a difference in using the
same transport in a damped and undamped mode, so I assume the same DAC was being
used. So, depending on how well the DAC handles jitter, there may or may not be
an audible difference even if the bitstream from the damped and undamped
transports differ slightly.



In principle this should not be a problem. In practice it probably is not a
problem for most systems/disc. But it *might* be a problem in some cases
where the player/disc/DAC arrangement is unusually poor for some reason.


or if the DAC doesn't handle jitter well ...

:)

Don Pearce November 8th 04 09:52 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
On 08 Nov 2004 10:14:54 GMT, ohawker (Andy
Evans) wrote:

4) to simultaneously ask for scientific methods and make fundamental mistakes

in measuring the intelligence of others is hypoctitical.

4. Is it not fair to call somebody who wilfully fails to follow a method he
knows to be the only one that yields a true result unintelligent?

"willfully fails to measure" - is this the same as "does not have measuring
equipment"?
"the only method" - you have yourself said that in audio we both measure and
listen
"someone who wilfully fails to measure is unintelligent". Correct me if I
appear to be wrong here, but I thought that the most widely accepted methods
for measuring intelligence were intelligence tests. I'd just include a
statement from one of the most compulsive measurers on the ng which is about as
hypocritical as you are likely to find:
"Character assassination seems to be the only debating tool you tubie vinylite
bigots have left"

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:-
http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.


I'm not talking about measuring, Andy - I'm talking about listening.
Hi fi is all about listening, just as audio - the designing and
building end - is all about measuring AND listening. But I'm talking
about listening in an environment where tester bias is not a factor.
This is a field in which you have experience and expertise beyond that
of most of the group. Yet you persist in making what must for,
somebody in your field, be schoolboy howlers.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Don Pearce November 8th 04 09:54 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
On 08 Nov 2004 10:06:52 GMT, ohawker (Andy
Evans) wrote:

1) this ng is for those who measure with equipment and who measure with their

ears

1. Most emphatically no. Listen any way you like, and post whatever opinions
you like, but if you announce the discovery of some effect that the rest of us
believe to be impossible - be prepared to defend
it, not moan about being challenged. (DP)

Well, this ng most emphatically IS for people who measure how they like. You
are quite right to say "If you want us to believe a statement, supply
measurements and proof" No problem. But I believe I was saying from the start
"I have made an observation which I believe I hear and I have no idea why, plus
I don't have measuring equipment so I'm not in a position to measure it. Has
anybody else observed such a thing". If you want to say "I don't believe you"
that's fine. In purely scientific terms the burden of proof lies with the
person making an assertion - fair enough. This doesn't make a statement like "I
have always found girls with first names ending in the letter a to be more
passionate" entirely uninteresting.


I think the question here is what constitutes a measurement. If you
have hung a scope on an output, you have made a measurement. If you
have made a double blind, level matched test between two items, and
found a significant (chi squared) difference, then you have made a
measurement every bit as valid as the first.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Ian Molton November 8th 04 10:05 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
Jim Lesurf wrote:

In principle this should not be a problem. In practice it probably is not a
problem for most systems/disc. But it *might* be a problem in some cases
where the player/disc/DAC arrangement is unusually poor for some reason.


surely (massive) jitter from the *disc* end of things would manifest as
read errors rather than jitter in the output stream?

Andy Evans November 8th 04 10:33 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
I'm talking about listening in an environment where tester bias is not a
factor. (DP)

That's a fair point.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 10:34 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
I think the question here is what constitutes a measurement. If you
have hung a scope on an output, you have made a measurement. If you
have made a double blind, level matched test between two items, and
found a significant (chi squared) difference, then you have made a
measurement every bit as valid as the first.

Again, a fair point.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Andy Evans November 8th 04 10:39 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
you don't need any particularly specialised equipment to do comparison testing
at its most basic level. All that's needed really is
not to have sight of what the combination is you're testing. After all, if the
'improvement' really is there, it will disappear after the 'tweak' is reversed,
and re-appear when it's reinstated

This is what Don is saying, and I think it's entirely reasonable. Clearly I
could do this with some third party, so I accept that I have been "wilfully
negligent" purely in listening (without going into the question of measuring
equipment). I'm not sure what third party I can press gang into this - I have
nobody handy, but it's a reasonable point that listening tests can be done much
better than I did.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Arny Krueger November 8th 04 01:03 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
"Andy Evans" wrote in message

CD transports are designed to tolerate such stuff ( vibration et al
). How on earth do you think one can work in a car otherwise ?

Hello there - I never said it didn't work - that's not the issue.
Also the changes are subtle, and not something you'd have a hope in
hell of hearing in a car. As I've constantly said, this is quite
paradoxical.


No, it's imaginary.

I suppose you are enjoying all the attention you are getting, Andy.



Jim Lesurf November 8th 04 03:30 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Tat Chan
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Tat Chan
wrote:



Actually, CD uses a form of the Reed Solomon code. Though the Hamming
code would provide error correction as well.




Not sure of all the details, but yes IIRC it is a form of cross
interleaved RS code. I think this is a 'block' code equivalent to a
hamming code.


I haven't done this in a while, but IIRC the Reed Solomon code is a type
of BCH code, which itself is a cyclic code.


I'm struggling to recall the details as it is ages since I read the info.
However I think the above is correct. Also, the data is processed via 'EFM'
(8 to 4 modulation). This essentially adds 6 extra bits of redundancy to
each 8bit byte of data. Thus redundancy (for error correction) is added at
more than one level in the process.


However the channel bit stream is encoded on a number of levels
between the sample data and the disc.


did you mean 'cross interleaved code' when you said 'encoded on a number
of levels between the sample data and the disc'?


Not quite. The interleaving and RS is one 'layer' of this. The interleaving
being to make that level's redundancy be for different sets of 'bits' than
the EFM additional bits. The process involves at least 2 or 3 'levels' of
re-encoding or re-arranging of the data. The details are in the relevant
Philips papers (and some in my textbook on this) but I can't recall all the
details!

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf November 8th 04 03:33 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Ian Molton
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:


In principle this should not be a problem. In practice it probably is
not a problem for most systems/disc. But it *might* be a problem in
some cases where the player/disc/DAC arrangement is unusually poor for
some reason.


surely (massive) jitter from the *disc* end of things would manifest as
read errors rather than jitter in the output stream?



The usual academic response. "Depends what you mean by..." :-)

Jitter when trying to read the channel bit steam off the disc might mean
some bits were lost or repeated.

However (in principle) the player might accomodate that, but in doing so
end up jittering the 'correct' bit series it outputs so much as to annoy or
confuse a following DAC/receiver.

So "yes or no"... :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Arny Krueger November 8th 04 06:38 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
"Don Pearce" wrote in message


Andy surprises me rather with his claims because he is fairly uniquely
positioned in his psychological training to understand the reasoning
and processes, yet chooses to ignore all his training and experience.


IME its not unusual to find people with psychological training who seem to
be completely oblivious to the need for well-designed subjective testing of
audio gear. Bruce Richman over in RAO seems to be one such person, and
Michael M. Gindi of the late unlamented FI magazine would be naother.



Andy Evans November 8th 04 07:01 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
I'd particularly like to thank Jim, Don and Dave Plowman for their
contributions to this thread - they have been helpful, patient and
constructive, and I've certainly learned quite a lot about the whole theory and
practice of measurement in the contentious area of what we call 'audio'. Andy

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

Stewart Pinkerton November 8th 04 10:25 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 21:30:27 +1100, Tat Chan
wrote:

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Tat Chan
wrote:

Actually, CD uses a form of the Reed Solomon code. Though the Hamming
code would provide error correction as well.


Not sure of all the details, but yes IIRC it is a form of cross interleaved
RS code. I think this is a 'block' code equivalent to a hamming code.


I haven't done this in a while, but IIRC the Reed Solomon code is a type of BCH
code, which itself is a cyclic code.

However the channel bit stream is encoded on a number of levels between the
sample data and the disc.

did you mean 'cross interleaved code' when you said 'encoded on a number of
levels between the sample data and the disc'?


It's a cross-interleaved Reed-Solomon (CIRC) code, using eight to
fourteen (EFM) modulation. Pick your preferred alphabet soup! :-_
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

Stewart Pinkerton November 8th 04 10:25 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
On 08 Nov 2004 09:20:43 GMT, ohawker (Andy
Evans) wrote:

I think this has been a useful thread for raising some of the issues about
measurement and non measurement. Just to go over this ground again, we know
that this ng is used both by those with measuring equipment and those without.
At the moment I'm without - not by choice particularly, I just haven't made
time to learn how to use my scope. I'm far from against measurement, and indeed
I take my gear round, once finished, to a friends to have it measured by quite
sophisticated equipment. Anyway, the point I'm making is that there are those
on this ng without access to measuring equipment and they have as much right to
make comments about their systems using the measuring equipment they do have,
which is their ears. In return the engineers needing measured data are quite
entitled to dismiss the results as unproven. I have no difficulty with that.
But this is not the whole story. Let us now take the case of a person who makes
a statement on the ng "I hear phenomenon A". If the response is "If you don't
have mesurements to prove it I won't believe it", then that's fine. But that
frequently isn't the response. If the response is "If you can't measure it you
should not have made that statement". Since we know in advance that there are
those on the ng wthout measuring equipment, to imply that they should not have
made a statement without measured data would be effectively to gag them. They
have as much right to make observations as the next man, so I would regard
gagging ng members as wholly unacceptable, even elitist. And if in the same
post we have "the poster should abide by the Scientific Method" and "the poster
is an idiot", we know that posters are not idiots so we must further level the
charge of hypocrasy to add to elitism. To recap these points:


1) this ng is for those who measure with equipment and who measure with their
ears


Both are valid techniques, which I don't believe has ever been argued.

2) anybody has the right to disbelieve anything


Indeed so, and it would be instructive if more people raised their
disbelief thresholds! :-)

3) to imply that somebody without measuring equipment should not post opinions
that can't be measured is elitist


I don't recall anyone having posted any such suggestion.

4) to simultaneously ask for scientific methods and make fundamental mistakes
in measuring the intelligence of others is hypoctitical.


That would be 'hypocritical'................... :-)

But again, I don't recall anyone having posted any such suggestion.


So, let's cut to the chase:

Despite much whining and strawman-building by their opponents, the
'engineers' do *not* demand 'measurements', they simply request that
anyone making claims which fly in the face of 'common knowledge',
provide some *proof* of those extraordinary claims. This need not
involve *any* measurements in many cases, and in others will only
involve a simple voltmeter to equalise levels in a *listening* test.

Please note that the 'objectivists' in actual fact always ask for
*listening* tests, i.e. not objective tests at all, just subjective
test which are controlled to eliminate bias problems which
psychologists have known about for more than half a century. Bottom
line, the 'objectivists' are the ones who are asking people to
*really* trust their ears. We remain surprised that the
'subjectivists' steadfastly refuse to do this. Why do they so refuse?

In the context of this particular thread, it's certainly been
suggested that technology be employed to compare digital files
produced by the transport under various conditions, but that's because
the output of a CD transport is *entirely* definable by examination of
its digital datastream, given a competent jitter-crushing DAC.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

Tat Chan November 9th 04 05:33 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 21:30:27 +1100, Tat Chan
wrote:


Jim Lesurf wrote:



However the channel bit stream is encoded on a number of levels between the
sample data and the disc.


did you mean 'cross interleaved code' when you said 'encoded on a number of
levels between the sample data and the disc'?



It's a cross-interleaved Reed-Solomon (CIRC) code, using eight to
fourteen (EFM) modulation. Pick your preferred alphabet soup! :-_


All that work to correct burst errors (CIRC) and ensure that the bits
can be read off the disc in a practical way (EFM), eh?

I suppose the mathematicians laid the foundation to ensure the data on
the disc would be self-correcting (up to a certain number of bits) and
the engineers found a practical way of getting the data off the disc in
real time!

;)

Ian Molton November 9th 04 08:11 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Ian Molton
wrote:


surely (massive) jitter from the *disc* end of things would manifest as
read errors rather than jitter in the output stream?




The usual academic response. "Depends what you mean by..." :-)

Jitter when trying to read the channel bit steam off the disc might mean
some bits were lost or repeated.

However (in principle) the player might accomodate that, but in doing so
end up jittering the 'correct' bit series it outputs so much as to annoy or
confuse a following DAC/receiver.

So "yes or no"... :-)


Again though, the CD is read as fast as required to keep the read-buffer
half full, which is, in turn drained at a constant rate. I cant see how
jitter filling that buffer could manifest on the output unless it was
great enough to drain the buffer or cause a read error that wasnt
correctable, neither of which would really be 'normal operating
conditions'...

Dave Plowman (News) November 9th 04 09:14 AM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article ,
Paul Dormer wrote:
A well worn disc is also likely to produce higher error rates
(naturally).


Wear suggests something which occurs normally with use - as happens with
an LP. CDs don't appear to wear as such - my very first one ever still
plays as new.

Damage would be a better term.

--
*No radio - Already stolen.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Arny Krueger November 9th 04 12:29 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
"Ian Molton" wrote in message


Again though, the CD is read as fast as required to keep the
read-buffer half full, which is, in turn drained at a constant rate.
I cant see how jitter filling that buffer could manifest on the
output unless it was great enough to drain the buffer or cause a read
error that wasnt correctable, neither of which would really be
'normal operating conditions'...


You've got things right. The buffered read technique used by *every* optical
disc transport is in essence, a massive anti-jitter box. The jitter of the
digital data stream coming out of an optical disc transport is set by the
output clock, not mechanical vibration in the transport.

I've done experiements in which I measured the jitter coming out of a CD
player suspended a few inches above a large woofer playing various
frequencies at loud levels. The jitter showed no increase right up to the
point where mistracking started.



Arny Krueger November 9th 04 12:38 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
"Kurt Hamster" wrote in message

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 09:57:26 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) used
to say...

In article ,
Andy Evans wrote:
But evidently you can't explain an obviously audible phenomenon.


Trouble is, Andy, most of your posts concern 'audible phenomenon'
that only you can hear...


If only one person can hear it then by definition it's audible is it
not?


Since sighted evaluations are being used, it is unclear whether or not
hearing is even involved.



Dave Plowman (News) November 9th 04 12:54 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article ,
Paul Dormer wrote:
Wear suggests something which occurs normally with use - as happens with
an LP. CDs don't appear to wear as such - my very first one ever still
plays as new.

Damage would be a better term.


Well I did say "well worn", by which I meant to infer scratched or
grazed, but OK I accept your correction..


Does a properly setup turntable actually cause audible wear with each
and every use?? I've never owned a high end turntable long enough to
know.


I'd say anything in mechanical contact must wear. My LPs certainly have.
;-)

I do have a few elderly CD's which have gained pinholes in the
metal layer just sitting on the shelf.. :-(


I've heard of this but not experienced it.

--
*Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) November 9th 04 12:56 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article ,
Kurt Hamster wrote:
But evidently you can't explain an obviously audible phenomenon.


Trouble is, Andy, most of your posts concern 'audible phenomenon' that
only you can hear...


If only one person can hear it then by definition it's audible is it
not?


To some, yes. Are the voices still troubling you?

--
*How can I miss you if you won't go away?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) November 9th 04 01:45 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article ,
Paul Dormer wrote:
A legendary Nimbus rot job..


Didn't Nimbus develop their own manufacturing facility - much to the
amazement of the majors? Considering how difficult this must have been a
few flaws aren't surprising.

--
*Sorry, I don't date outside my species.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Arny Krueger November 9th 04 01:46 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
"Paul Dormer" wrote in message


For sake of argument, wouldn't it be quicker and more fun for Andy to
just make whatever changes he feels improves his CD drive to his ears,
and get on with his life rather than conducting a series of boring
tests?? ;-) I mean.. permutations of stabilization technique could be
very long winded. Eg, try some feet under it.. does it sound better?
Yes/No... OK let's move on...

Not scientific but less tedious... :-)


A great opportunity for Andy to intellectually spin his wheels. Show him
how, Paul its what you're good at.



Jim Lesurf November 9th 04 01:49 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Paul Dormer
wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" emitted :


A well worn disc is also likely to produce higher error rates
(naturally).


Wear suggests something which occurs normally with use - as happens
with an LP. CDs don't appear to wear as such - my very first one ever
still plays as new.

Damage would be a better term.


Well I did say "well worn", by which I meant to infer scratched or
grazed, but OK I accept your correction..


Does a properly setup turntable actually cause audible wear with each
and every use?? I've never owned a high end turntable long enough to
know. I do have a few elderly CD's which have gained pinholes in the
metal layer just sitting on the shelf.. :-(


Can't say for sure about 'audible' wear on LPs as - after any possible
damage that occurs on the first playing (which will affect the first
hearing, so isn't normally subject to be noticed as a change between
playings) I'd expect any further damage to be slight per playing.
(Exculding effects due to dust or a damaged stylus.)

However I have seen photos taken using microscopes that show clear signs of
stylus wear on the groove walls of LPs. IIRC there were also - many years
ago - articles on this. Not seen results for current stylii/cartriges,
though. Only ones for some years ago.

FWIW I'm currently reading through various old articles on LP performance,
but am concentrating on factors like noise level and distortion/mistracking
rather than wear. I think, though, there are some papers on this in the
JAES that I've skipped over in passing.

The snag is that modern MC cartridges seem to often have lower compliances
and higher masses than something like the 'old' V15 series. Hence they can
be expected to wear the LP more than a V15 given a comparable stylus shape.
Alas, I can't recall many modern reviews even noting this effect, let alone
any systematic work on it.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf November 9th 04 01:51 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Paul Dormer
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" emitted :


. A CD-Rom vibrates quite a bit in your hand,


Indeed. However when spinning at speeds above x1 it can re-read the
disc to ensure consistent and reliable data recovery before sending out
the resulting bitstream.


In a realtime playback situation, isn't it tricky for a CD drive to
accurately relocate itself to the correct position on a re-read, due to
the very nature of audio CD's which are not timestamped??


The data is timestamped, but not on a per-sample basis. It is stamped in
data blocks. Hence re-reads can be performed on a 'block' basis and once
aligned, the relevant bits/bytes/samples compared and collated.

What a specific CD reader does, though, is a matter for the maker of that
particular drive... :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf November 9th 04 01:54 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Paul Dormer
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" emitted :


The assumption - and I think it's not unreasonable - is that
stabilising a cd mechanism brings audible benefits.


As a vague and unspecific generalisation that is fine. However it does
not establish that this *is* the case in this specific instance. For
that we require suitable tests to obtain relevant evidence.


For sake of argument, wouldn't it be quicker and more fun for Andy to
just make whatever changes he feels improves his CD drive to his ears,
and get on with his life rather than conducting a series of boring
tests?? ;-)


Yes. However he *did* ask us for reasons/explanations for what he feels he
hears. Once he does this we then need more info. However if he does not
wish to determine any reasons... :-)


I mean.. permutations of stabilization technique could be very long
winded. Eg, try some feet under it.. does it sound better? Yes/No... OK
let's move on...


This is the snag with making obervations without reliable measurements. You
end up having to try things 'at random' in the hope some might seem better,
but not then be sure if or why...

Not scientific but less tedious... :-)


Far simpler IMHO to buy a Meridian and listen to the music. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf November 9th 04 01:58 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
In article , Paul Dormer
wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" emitted :




I do have a few elderly CD's which have gained pinholes in the metal
layer just sitting on the shelf.. :-(


I've heard of this but not experienced it.



Yep.. happened to a few of mine. This is out of a collection of several
thousand though, so percentage-wise a small number. Have to say.. it's
not necessarily obvious!! You can see the holes if you hold the disc up
to the light, otherwise can easily be missed. I have one right here..
not a prime example, but I'll see if it picks up on the scanner. A
legendary Nimbus rot job..



I have some CDs with pinholes. However so far as can tell, these have had
them since purchase, and they have not altered. They seem playable with not
audible problems I have noticed. The Philips Red Book spec caters for quite
large holes in the info layer without this necessarily preventing recovery
of the correct sample values.

I've also had a number of the PDO Blackburn 'brown rot' discs, and they
have replaced them all FOC when returned to them. However these don't show
holes. Just a brown discolouration of the metal.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Ian Molton November 9th 04 09:54 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I do have a few elderly CD's which have gained pinholes in the
metal layer just sitting on the shelf.. :-(


I've heard of this but not experienced it.


I've found pinholes in brand new CDs.

some play, some dont. luck of the draw.


Ian Molton November 9th 04 09:56 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Paul Dormer wrote:

Audibly?? Have you performed the necessary scientific tests to confirm
this degradation with each subsequent listen? ;-)


Having seen vinyl swarf peeling off a record I can guarantee the wear is
audible once it gets bad enough.

Ian Molton November 9th 04 10:00 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Paul Dormer wrote:

In a realtime playback situation, isn't it tricky for a CD drive to
accurately relocate itself to the correct position on a re-read, due
to the very nature of audio CD's which are not timestamped??


Not quite true. the problem is that the resolution of the timestamps is
only one frame (IIRC 1/75th of a second).

Define 'difficult'. My CD-ROM can read audio at over 30 speed.

Ian Molton November 9th 04 10:40 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Paul Dormer wrote:
"Ian Molton" emitted :


Audibly?? Have you performed the necessary scientific tests to confirm
this degradation with each subsequent listen? ;-)


Having seen vinyl swarf peeling off a record I can guarantee the wear is
audible once it gets bad enough.



Yikes!! What kind of turntable was that on?? Did it have a nail for a
stylus? ;-)


"not mine" is all that I care about ;-)

Ian Molton November 9th 04 10:42 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Paul Dormer wrote:
"Ian Molton" emitted :


I've found pinholes in brand new CDs.

some play, some dont. luck of the draw.


What.. some of them don't play *at all*?


Well I tend to bin CDs once they fail to play properly. (Id do the same
if it was vinyl too ;-)

Ian Molton November 9th 04 10:46 PM

CD transports and resonance
 
Paul Dormer wrote:
"Ian Molton" emitted :


In a realtime playback situation, isn't it tricky for a CD drive to
accurately relocate itself to the correct position on a re-read, due
to the very nature of audio CD's which are not timestamped??


Not quite true. the problem is that the resolution of the timestamps is
only one frame (IIRC 1/75th of a second).

Define 'difficult'. My CD-ROM can read audio at over 30 speed.



I was thinking more of a dedicated CD player or transport.

Is your drive capable of reliable DAE at that speed?? Pretty impressed
if so!


I think Im remembering it right. its certainly able to do a full CD in
under 5 mins, which makes it 20 speed or better.


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