On another thread - about Shostakovich - mention was made of clipping in recordings. As it is a Verdi celebration year I have been listening to several different recordings of Verdi operas, and in particular Falstaff. Today I realised that I'd downloaded Solti's version in a complete set of aac recordings (aac 256 kbps) from the iTunes store a year or more back, so I transferred it to this machine, and played the opening.
Sometimes aac and mp3s sound almost the same as the CDs, and if it's simply a question of trying for sound quality, then I tend to decide whether or not to buy the CD or other format. I have to say that the opening track of the Falstaff download is atrocious, and at least exhibits rather severe distortion - probably clipping. Now I wonder whether the CD would also be bad, though I find it hard to believe that it could be. Other tracks are nothing like so bad, which suggests that someone simply got the levels wrong, and thus hit clipping.
Perhaps those who produce audio tracks don't understand some basic facts about sound quality these days. I certainly wouldn't want to buy the equivalent Solti CD if it also showed the same horrible defects. Sadly, perhaps, the days when one could listen to LPs or take them back if they weren't up to scratch seem long gone. I am not sure if any supplier nowadays would actually take back CDs simply because the recording quality was discovered to be abysmal.
Sometimes aac and mp3s sound almost the same as the CDs, and if it's simply a question of trying for sound quality, then I tend to decide whether or not to buy the CD or other format. I have to say that the opening track of the Falstaff download is atrocious, and at least exhibits rather severe distortion - probably clipping. Now I wonder whether the CD would also be bad, though I find it hard to believe that it could be. Other tracks are nothing like so bad, which suggests that someone simply got the levels wrong, and thus hit clipping.
Perhaps those who produce audio tracks don't understand some basic facts about sound quality these days. I certainly wouldn't want to buy the equivalent Solti CD if it also showed the same horrible defects. Sadly, perhaps, the days when one could listen to LPs or take them back if they weren't up to scratch seem long gone. I am not sure if any supplier nowadays would actually take back CDs simply because the recording quality was discovered to be abysmal.
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