CD Format Cheat Sheet

I wasn’t able to find a concise listing on this forum of the various cd formats so I’m posting this here. If it’s wrong in any way, please let me know and I’ll edit accordingly. If someone else already did this an my search skills are just rubbish, please lmk and I’ll edit accordingly.

Red Book - the normal Audio CD format. Search CD Rainbow Books for context.

Gold Discs - manufactured using gold instead of aluminum for the shiny “B” layer. Gold doesn’t make things sound better, it just makes the shiny layer less susceptible to degradations called perforations. Occasionally platinum is used.

SHM /Platinum- Super Hard Material discs upgrade the materials used in layers A,B, & C of a traditional CD making the product less susceptible to perforations caused by light getting through the thin layers of aluminum. Sometimes they use Platinum for the shiny layer and call that out to market against more costly and far less common Gold these days.

Bluspec & BS2 - manufacturers write to cd discs using a different laser developed by Sony for Blue Ray discs. This doesn’t change the quality of the sound, it simply reduces manufacturing errors inherent in a traditional cd pressing process and therefore improved margins for manufacturers or at least a nice little royalty for Sony.

HQCD - another manufacturing technique that aims to reduce error correction which is an intellectual exercise at this point as it doesn’t make any difference to sound quality due to built in error correction mentioned before. Simply put, longevity due to material upgrades (platinum, etc) started to plateau and they rebuilt to process of manufacturing cds thus gaining an edge in pressing/read error reduction. Super cool in my opinion but purely a material / manufacturing quality exercise with no bearings on sound quality as the amount of information on the Audio CD hasn’t changed.

SACD - normally surround masterings (5.1, etc). Requires special equipment and/or software and another little royalty to Sony. Each surround layer on SACD sounds different than red book as it’s a different mastering since the format holds a lot more data than a cd. SACDs often sell as hybrids which contain both SACD and RedBook masterings. Why wouldn’t I just buy a red book cd for $10 if I’m not going to listen to the surround encoding you might ask. Read on! This format is a little weird given blu-ray exists but it’s still popular with nerds (me) who have the old equipment and don’t want a blu-ray player.

Many original releases are being made available in new masterings which is to say choices the original master made might have been limited due to the source files she had access to or even the mastering tech in the studio. New masterings are often from the original tapes and they have more tech now so theoretically they can produce a more accurate representation of the original sound. They can also just reduce drum reverb and sell it for more money. Your ears will be the judge. Occasionally, a new mastering is released only on a new format such as hqcd or even an SACDs redbook layer and that’s why one might buy and SACD just for the new redbook master which is otherwise unavailable. For fun, one can often find a remastering available only in Hyrbrid format in the US on redBook CDs in Japan for less money. Same mastering and therefore the same sound. It’s a very cheap way to get certain white label MoFi masterings.

Hopefully this saves you some time and money. Happy listening!

 

I'm not sure you should include SACD whilst referring to CD's? Only because they are totally different technology like DVD-Audio. I suppose it does have CD in the name and there is usually a CD layer on the disc but I think it leads to confusion as SACD is basically just a hi rez format with surround sound being an add on feature rather than the main idea (perhaps I'm wrong on that?).
DTS CD's on the other hand are CD's and are surround, however do require a DTS capable playback system!

 

Do HDCD's count or are they just another manufactured Red Book CD encoded with a special coding to be decoded by an HDCD player for supposedly better sound that is not decoded in a regular non-HDCD player?

 

In other words, a way for labels to make their CDs sound worse for 99.9 % of their users who don't have HDCD playback.

 

Video CDs (VCD) is another format but the music is lossy in order to be able to provide video content I assume? The video content is about VHS in quality so they are not terrible looking but not as good as a modern DVD. DVD's in the early days were no better than a VCD in some cases.

 

A useful list, thank-you. I thought you might like to add the MQA format:

MQA CD. This method (a British invented technology) takes 24 bit data and divides it in two - 16 bit of CD-quality data and the extra 8 bits. It forms a standard Redbook audio CD data from the 16bits and folds the extra 8 bits (with some compression) into the space beneath the 16 bit signal's data. The advantage is that the standard Redbook portion is playable on ordinary CD players, whilst an MQA enabled player can also decode the 'hidden' MQA data creating a 24 bit sound. I think typically these Japanese-made MQA CDs are made from 24 bit DSD original masters.

(I've only got two MQA CDs at the moment - The Velvet Underground & Nico and Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra. I've been impressed so far.)

 

The redbook audio (layer) is lossless, however I'm not sure on the actual video audio portion. I've been waiting for a LD player to show up locally (for cheap). I don't want to spend a premium just to watch a music video
I grab them for the mastering's/mixes/b-sides

 

Please give an example. Because I don't think this is often the case. A used CD can be found for around $5 and a used SACD is often more than that.
e.g.
The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! - The Rolling Stones In Concert (2002, CD)
The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (2002, Digipak, SACD)

 

Thanks for sharing I agree whatever the manufacturing method I don't think there is a variance in sound reproduction there all PCM CD lossless which to these ears is the best some may argue that Hi-res is better I cannot tell the difference between different Hi-res formats besides I cannot hear anything above 20khz can you ?

 

VCD is MPG 1 compressed video. PAL or NTSC resolution. The audio is MPEG-1 Audio layer II and hence compressed too.

I have heard that some LD players could play a VCD but I think this might be an exception, not the rule. I have always played them on a Mac or a PC using QuickTime Player or I think Windows Media Player. QuickTime X will not play mpeg1 anymore but anything that plays MPEG1 video will suffice - VLC probably. So, you don’t need one of the specialised LD players if you have access to a computer with CD-ROM drive.

 

I think the DTS CD was an interesting twist that deserves a mention.

5.1 Music Disc - Wikipedia

 

Exactly, except the reality was really messy
- The improved sound was felt by many to be due to a superior A/D and DAC design by Keith Johnson et al.
- Not all the features had to be used.
- All those discs are a little dead now because AFAIK you cannot decode them in any recent players.*
- HDCD made regular discs sound worse, because there was a mandatory -6 dB volume reduction for non-HDCD discs. This means a higher noise floor, and maybe you can't get to maximum volume. This was supposed to equalize the volume versus HDCD discs encoded with peak extend, however I cynically believe it mostly served to make HDCD discs sound better due to louder. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I worked for a gigantoid audio corporation and refused this requirement outright. They gave in.

*If I'm wrong please chime in! Especially if there is a way to rip HDCDs to decoded files.

 

Right.
This type requires a laser disc player for access to the video. The extra audio only tracks are CDDA/redbook- Will play in any cd player etc.. and are rip-able.

 

There's no "normally surround masterings" for SACD. SACD started as a 2 channel format and only added multichannel capability later to compete with DVD-A. In fact, Sony mandates a 2 channel stereo (or just mono) DSD mix for every SACD; the multichannel DSD mix and the CD layer are individually optional. On the CD layer of a hybrid SACD, it can also be HDCD-encoded or be a Enhanced CD (with video content viewable when played back in a CD-ROM drive). Note that both the 2 channel stereo DSD mix and the optional multichannel DSD mix are on one layer, and if available, the CD compatible PCM mix is on another layer.

Btw, there are also SHM-SACDs.

 

DSD is a 1 bit format.

Don't tell that to the Telarc/Erich Kunzel album "The Big Picture." It has a sticker on the back that says, "The Stereo program on this SACD appears only on the hybrid CD layer in order to accommodate the over 76 minute multi-channel surround program." It's the only SACD I own that doesn't have a stereo SACD layer.

 

Since this thread appears in Audio Hardware, I think it would be helpful to either incorporate (or start a similar thread on) ripping information for transferring the various formats to different playback media. For instance, I'd like to know how to rip surround SACD, DVD-A, DVD-V and Blu-ray tracks into FLAC that could (conceivably, when the tech becomes more available) reside on the same media for shuffle-playback on the road...and, which programs would be useful for both exact archiving for NAS, or again, easily-shuffle-able from the same folder in a home audio setup for a universally-comparable listening experience...decoding Dolby Digital Surround CD's, as well.

Handbrake
dBPoweramp
MakeMKV
AudioMuxer
DVD Audio Extractor
EAC
AnyDVD
...the list goes on and on, and only some programs are best for ripping/converting/storing various tracks from their original media, into formats that can then be played together in comparable compilation configuration.

ISO's!
DSF!
WAV!
Mp3!
FLAC!
Gahhhh-!

Yeah, this is probably beyond the scope of this thread...but a would make a real benefit as a companion piece:
"How To Rip Anything For Any Purpose"

 

Only one disc set I haven't been able to crack, ISO buster-everything. -Drives of different vintage...
Funny I have other CC discs I've had success with.
De/Vision-Remixed 2002 DOCdata Germany

 

To round the list out in the first comment, here's a couple of more cd materials:

AQCD - "Analog Quality Compact Disc - or AQCD - is a technology developed by Japan's Memory Tech. An AQCD is produced using purple polycarbonate and a special silver alloy, ensuring a more accurate reading of the digital data and a reduction of disc errors when a CD player laser reads it. The aim of AQCD is to deliver music with a greater "analog" sound, meaning that it is closer to the quality of the original recording. AQCDs are compatible with standard CD players."

​

Crystal disc - "A revolutionary Compact Disc using glass substrate, this new technology allows sound reproduction at a level previously unknown and is as close to the master sound source as cutting edge technology allows. For this purpose, Crystal disc is fabricated by our Laser Disc technology cultivated over many years with using the best selected materials."

They usually go between 600$ to 1000$, PER DISC, so not too many reviews/comments you can read on them. They pop up every now and then and go fast. More details here:

>>> website <<<​

 

You're confusing Video CD (VCD) with CD Video, which was a LaserDisc with a combination of digital CD audio tracks and analog LD video tracks on it:

 

Ok i stupidly called dsd 24bit where I meant dsd is used to create a 24 bit remaster.

 

nice work...thanks for posting this...

 

Actually I'm not, both need a laserdisc player to view the 'video' portion.
That INXS is just a video. The one's I'm talking about are 'hybrids' -mainly 'cd singles'

 

This statement is false. Current MQA-CDs by Universal, Warner & others feature fully RBCD compliant 16/44 LPCM audio, which has no out-of-band (i.e. 22...44 kHz) spectral content whatsoever, since its MQA flag is in the least significant bit (i.e. bit 0) & the folded-in out-of-band MQA content goes below the flag bit in LPCM word (f.e. in 24-bit MQA audio the flag bit is usually 8 & bits 0...7 are used for folded-in out-of-band spectral content). So MQA-CD is simply a meta-data infused CD with slightly reduced (compared to a regular RBCD) resolution, featuring leaky SRC at the MQA encoding stage & leaky SRC at the MQA rendering (upsampling) stage...

 

What does this mean in English please? Or let’s say, ‘in practical terms’?