tape hiss on CD's ?

just got a new DVD/CD player, and I really notice a lot of hiss/background noise on a couple discs so far, that I didn't before


first CD I put in was the Harvest Japanese release of Dark Side of the Moon....this is supposed to be one of the better versions on CD. I can't believe the amount of hiss at the beginning, when the heartbeat etc comes in, and until the music comes on loud enough to drown it out


also just put in Hendrix: Band of Gypsies.....lots of really loud hiss on that one too, esp at the beginning/start of the 1st track, and "machine gun" too. still playing that one at the moment


I can't believe there's this much tape hiss from the master tape....?? and why is it suddenly so much more apparent?


maybe I'll bring these discs to a decent audio place & audition them through some other gear to check...?


thx

 

Think of tape hiss as a lack of digital noise-reduction, which is a good thing.

However, if two different CDs are straight transfers (no EQ, no digital noise reduction, etc.), and one has more tape hiss, it is likely that a 2nd or 3rd generation tape was used, vs. a 1st generation. (Or more to the point I'm trying to make, the noisier CD could be made from a copy of a master, vs. a master.)

Any other changes in equipment?

 

Bolero, it sounds like you have a much more revealing player now. What is the new player and what did you use before?

Rudy has a good point. Did you change cables or anything else?

 

It's also possible that the new player is adding hiss on playback. I bought a portable cd player once that had an incredibly poor s/n ratio. It added more hiss than dubbing to a good cassette did.

 

well, I just compared it to the new SACD version of DSOTM ( although my player is DVD-A & not SACD compatible...so it was just playing in "normal" mode) and it seemed the same: same jump in hiss levels at the same spots, same characteristics...(but it seemed mixed a bit louder?)


my old cd player died about a year ago, I've just been using one of those portable discman things hooked up to the stereo meanwhile, but it sounded like crap. I think it compressed the audio w/the anti-skip mechanism.


no other changes in equipment, checked the cables too. just using it in stereo mode though, no 5.1


DVD player is a Panasonic DVD-F87, re: the other thread.

previous CD player was a Philips CDC 925, amp/receiver is a Philips FR 920. speakers are Wharfedale delta-30.2


I might try & repair the old CD player just for kicks & sentimental reasons


anyway, maybe you're right & the new player is more revealing. I'm just surprised at how much the background hiss stands out....but then again, all this music was multi-tracked onto tape, and then mixed down/mastered onto tape, originally. not to mention tape editing/overdubs etc....so there's going to be tape hiss no matter what.


this thing has an upsamping feature ( 44.1 Hz to 192 Hz, or something like that?), maybe I'll try that out, if I can figure it out. but from what I understand, it enhances the high freq's even more



thanks...