Where is the magic in a SHM disk?

So you're saying the test is completely pointless, since everybody will just hear what they were predisposed to hear regardless of what the discs actually sound like. Got it.

 

+1. I did this with The Kinks stuff in the mini-sleeves and was horrified at how bad they sounded. I'm sure it had nothing to do with "super coding" it was the mastering that sounded pretty bad.

 

Yes that was funny. Its amazing to me how easily most can be totally fooled. We are wired to use all our senses, and most times, they work in a good way to alert us to danger or this or that. Problem is, we can be completely easily fooled with our multi use senses.

The people that claim that to not be true are only fooling themselves. I love how many will argue that built in traits to humans somehow are not present in "them", as if they are a robot or android.

 

G'day,

I am reminded of this study, where subjects where asked to rate different bottles of wine, labelled at $5/bottle to $90/bottle, but in reality each bottle had the same contents. As in the Penn & Teller experiment mentioned above with bottled water, the subjects preferred the "expensive" wines regardless of the actual content. But the interesting thing in this study is that the part of the brain that experiences pleasure was more active when the subject was tasting the "expensive" wines, so that the subject's experience (in the brain) was affected by the expectation. The subjects really did prefer the "expensive" wine (rather than simply assert as much), because the brain had modified the processing in expectation.

One wonders if there's been any similar experiments in the world of audio ...

--Geoff

 

Most of the time, they don't even do it consciously. It's usually their unconscious trying to eliminate cognitive dissonance. It's quite sad actually, to see otherwise intelligent people babble nonsense about green markers and magic bits and unexplained chages to digital data which can not be detected by anything except their ears...

 

(Sorry, I hadn't checked this thread in a few days and was surprised it's still active.)

Yes. That's exactly what I said, and I stand behind it 100%.

It's a stream of 0's and 1's, and it's the same stream of 0's and 1's that was written to the disc.

CDs are a data storage system, and just like any other data storage system, they wouldn't be used if they bungled up your data. Somewhere in internetland, there's a server that hosts this very forum. The server has a hard drive, or maybe multiple redundant hard drives, that store your post. Doesn't really matter what's inside the hard drive, but it DOES matter that the hard drive reads back exactly what you write to it. Or it wouldn't be used in a server. Same case for CD systems. The $5 CD-ROM drive in your laptop will correctly read installation CD-ROMs, or they wouldn't be sold commercially. Likewise, they will rip unscratched audio discs 100% correctly, as you can confirm with EAC.

An expensive transport may handle scratched discs better than a cheap transport, but that's not what we're discussing here. Example: One of my patents is for a disc tilt sensor and corrector, which would raise the price and complexity of a drive, but would help read back warped discs. It wouldn't do a single thing in the case of unwarped discs, though, since those already read back just fine.

I think your cited engineer might have been referring to the handling of damaged discs, rather than the handling of un-damaged discs.

Nope, never said that, and won't make that kind of statement here on the forum. (Even if I personally believe it to be true.)

If you hear differences, it's in the ANALOG outputs, not in the DIGITAL outputs. My expertise ends with the producing of the digital stream of 0's and 1's - I know plenty about that. As for analog noise effects that may be down 60, 80, 100 dB from the volume level of the music, I personally am skeptical, but you can form your own opinions.

 

Just got Wingers first two albums on SHM CD and I was not happy with the sound. The bass was boosted the mids were harsh and the treble sounded like a dolby tape played back with NR turned off. Reminded me of the 2007 Genesis remaster of Duke. The disc looks cool but the sound is poor. I wish I could of told everyone how great they sound. This has nothing to do with the SHM CD itself. Just a p_ss poor remaster.

 

TL;DR version: SHM CD=YMMV?

 

Yeah. You probably should not buy any CDs made after 1995, SHM or not. There are some that are alright, but most remasters will suck.

 

Thought I'd give the format a try and bought a used copy of John Lewis Slavic Smile. Has a nice smooth sound I've never heard before.

 

Probably not the SHH material, but the mastering. Two different things. It is true that the SHM material does go along with the newer masterings, all mostly bad. It is just a sign of the times.

 

Anyone heard the SHM of McCartney's RAM? I bought an Asian market regular CD that sounds awful.

 

My Japanese SHM-CD/DVD Deluxe RAM boxed set just arrived here this morning from Japan. Haven't even opened the box yet ... will report back ..

 

Please do. I'm anxious to know what you think.

 

I only have a few SHM discs and I can say in my opinion it's the biggest con in the music industry. My CDs of Taste Live & Taste On The Boards don't sound any better than the Re-mastered versions. A huge expense for just something made in Japan.
I didn't hear a big difference, just a lighter wallet.

 

I've never heard an SHM disc (too expensive; uncertain mastering provenance) but I love the plaintive, childlike title of this thread.

If the discussion has a theme song, it would be Skeeter Davis's apocalyptically disappointed 1965 hit, "The End of the World."

 

The mastering provenance (or at least its year) is usually mentioned on the obi. But I get the impression some of the SHM fans don't worry overmuch about that sort of thing.

 

Harsh and a bit patronising.

 

"cleaner audio signals reduce jitter and the effects of birefringence" check out the All About Format SHM CD at CDJapan.

 

pride in ownership other than that...NOTHING.

 

Ok thanks I'm buying that. Ok wait I'm definitely not buying that. I won't argue that the material used and method of manufacturing might not produce a well made CD. I don't know if that material will last longer than a standard CD I don't care based on my experience with standard CDs I'll probably be dead before I could find out for sure. I don't care if the reflective surface makes it easier to read the information (them ole gold CDs) it will not make it sound better. It is in the mastering as every format of music ever sold has shown. Good mastering. Good sound. Bad mastering. Bad sound.

If you wish to think otherwise enjoy spending them dollars.

 

Good mastering+shm =excellent sound

 

Excellent mastering + SHM = excellent sound - it's sill in the mastering not the material IMO

 

As i wrote in another thread

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/feature/shmcd_factory

 

$HM