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From: EZBZYAZ@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Christopher Hayashida)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: Audio CD
Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 15:36
Organization: UCLA Microcomputer Support Office
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Message-ID: <19940512153624EZBZYAZ@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
References: <1994May11.111700.20478@cs.nott.ac.uk>
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In article <1994May11.111700.20478@cs.nott.ac.uk>,
dpg@cs.nott.ac.uk (David P Gymer) writes:

>In article <joninCpJ02A.L60@netcom.com>, Lord Jonin <jonin@netcom.com> wrote:
>>Fion Yeung (phoenix@csc.cuhk.hk) blurted:
>>: I want to ask whether Audio CD quality with be affected by the sound card I
>>: used. I use sbpro 2.0 ,8 bit
>
>>You bet it can. :)  Remember: you sound quality is only as good as the card
>>you use.  Not only do you have to consider the sample-rate at which the
>>card is 'sampling' - but you have to figure on the input level as well as
>>any noise that is added from the Digital to analog - then analog sampling
>>conversion.  So the answer is a most profoundly stated YES. :)
>
>*bzzt* Thank you for playing!
>
>Most modern soundcards (certainly the GUS and the SBPro) mix the audio
>out from the CD drive directly into the card output; it isn't
>"sampling" the sound and then replaying it.  Now, it's perfectly true
>that the quality is a little lower than a "real" CD player, but the
>difference on my Panasonic CR-562B/GUS combination is almost
>inaudible; typically the only "difference" I can hear is removed by a
>little judicious use of the EQ on the stereo.
>
>I've also heard the same drive playing back through an SBPro, and it
>sounds just as good (in fact, it's a little better than the SBPro
>owner's (rather old) CD player!).
>
>Now, if you actually want to sample off the CD, that's another matter.
>
>The reason I often play audio CDs back thru the PC is so that I can
>take advantage of decent programming features; I've yet to see an
>affordable CD player which can remember programs for multiple CDs,
>recognise the CD, and replay the associated program.  (Come to think
>of it, I don't think I've ever seen a CD player with this feature,
>regardless of price; I remember it was touted as a neato feature years
>ago when CDs were gaining popularity).
>
>[...]
>
>>IF you actually wanted to clean up the signal in the computer - you would
>>literally have to shield every stinking cable in there.  I dont even
>>want to go into how cruddy the power supply is and how you would have to
>>line-condition that as well. :)
>
>The only shielding I'm interested in is against cosmic rays.  ;-)
>
I noticed that my CD-ROM sounds pretty good, even when I'm using a
headset.  The noise from the computer is negligible.  However, I have
to add that I bought an expensive heavy-duty shielded cable.  One
thing I did notice is that the CD-ROM didn't skip as much as I thought
it would, even when I bumped my computer.  Does anyone know how a
double speed CD-ROM would compare (in oversampling) to a conventional
CD player?

Christopher Hayashida