Why Are Some CD's Very Noisy In The Player and Others Quiet?

I use an Emotiva ERC-3 CD Player/Transport and some CD's make a lot of mechanical noise like vibrations and rumbles while others are very quiet. What would cause this?

 

I personally haven't had that happen but if a CD center hole is not completely center some transports will make noise trying to track the groves.

 

I owned an expensive Linn Majik player and had the same issue.

Some CDs caused noticeable vibration. Do not know why, however this very finicky player did sound quite nice for the 2 years I owned it and the times it decided to actually function.

 

Used to have a few CDs back in the day that did this, most noticeably Styx "Greatest Hits". Very weird feeling with my discman in my pocket.

 

Probably it is due to the weight of the label side being unevenly distributed (more ink on one side of the disc). Also some discs have their outside edges less neatly trimmed and this can cause noise. I have a Stereophonics CD that goes whirrrrr when I play it in a tray player because the outside edge is ragged.

 

I've had a problem with some Blu Rays vibrating - but only while displaying the menu. And it only occurred with one particular player.

 

I notice this when I rip CDs on my laptop. Not in my SONY XA20ES though.

 

All about them being centered and also being balanced.

 

Never had any noise from my vintage JVC CD player. I did (with certain CD's) on my former Oppo 83.

 

Not every disc is going to be totally precise...some are also bowled slightly, which can make for a noisy spin but otherwise perfect play.

My Fad Gadget - Gag won't load in one of my disc drives. Vibrates like crazy. Other drives are fine. Weird.

 

I also use a slim external combo drive on my iMac and some of my CD's make it dance around the desktop.

 

One of the area dealers started carrying that line. For S&G I popped a CD into your model and it starting making all kinds of racket before it started to play, so ok grab another CD, same noise. I looked at John and said looks like a real winner, he shrugged. My impression is they don't have a very good transport in it.

 

Aha! That's why you kept playing that CD over and over...

 

To the OP...good question! I have a NAD C516BEE player that spins a few discs very noisy. Otherwise, they play fine in my Naim CD5i. Meanwhile, some disc skip in the Naim and play fine in the NAD. Just goes to show CDs are more "like vinyl" that we realize.

 

Half of my CD collection do mechanical noises in my players. Was always wondering about that.

 

It may have something to do with cheaply made CD presses. Roxette's their 20 Greatest Songs, a CD pressed in Rumania I think and Boston's Life, Love & Hope also pressed on an Eastern country, both of them look cheaply made, make noises on my Oppo BDP-93, some other cheaply made also but I don't recall the titles right now.

 

I have always noticed this also, but I have also noticed that the noisier discs seem to be spinning faster at the time of hearing the noise. Not sure though, but it could also be the weight, some discs weigh more than others.

 

If the CD / DVD player is several years old such noises can be indicative of impending failure of the player. The OP didn't specify how old the unit is or whether this has been an issue from the start.

 

The player was purchased in March of 2016 so is less than a year old.

 

Given the imprecision the CD's are manufactured to it's actually surprising they don't vibrate more, could be one of the reasons the drives fail.

 

It has to do something with some CDs being slightly warped or off-center, if that's possible. Some CDs really make those light slim-drives move around the desk while ripping. I used to rip those in my old heavy Toshiba notebook that was build like a tank. Now I put a mousepad under the drive and a book on it.

Back in the days when I was much more worried about what could go wrong with my CDs or player these noises really bugged me. I never found an explanation why some discs made noises in my CD-player and others did not. I'd hold two discs together to see if one was warped and if the holes were matching and usually both CDs looked perfect to me.

I remember a small thing that I never found an explanation for. When my CD-player stopped spinning at the end of a CD, sometimes it stopped without a sound, or with barely a sound. With some CDs though, it stopped with a sound like ssssssssssss-shshshshsh-shd. If you know what I mean.

 

I think than spin down sound has something to do with how the data is on the CD, it causes the player to spin the disc at full speed and when shut down you hear it winding down from full speed spinning, I think....

 

That's interesting. It sounded like the drive was putting the brakes on. But does a regular CD player use different speeds? I thought the run through in one speed like a turntable.

 

No, all sorts of speeds at different points as far as I can tell anyhow.

 

Yes the center hole being off-set slightly is the cause of most transport noise in many machines.