Advice on preparing high sound quality mix CDs

[CafeSavoy]

It's not the same exact version, as they are from different CDs. It seems to me that the tracks on 'Listen My Children You Shall Hear'
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005 ... 14-8984832

sound much better than those on 'The Count Basie Story' [BOX SET] on Proper Records
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005 ... 14-8984832

Looking at the track listings it seems the songs on "Listen My Children..." are mostly from the Decca Recordings. So there is probably some overlap with the Proper Box Set since it also includes some of the Decca Recordings.

Huey, a question about your listening comparison, did you compare them on headphones or out loud on your dj equipment? I've noticed that songs can sound differently under various circumstances.

I agree that it's a pity that most on-line stores don't give you a higher quality recording. Too bad they don't follow the Smithsonian practice of using flac for their downloads. But i don't think that getting the cd is always the more cost effective option. If a cd (or multi-cd set) only a has one good song, why buy the entire set for one song? Also, although buying a Proper or JSP box set might be the optimal situation, only a limited number of artists and recordings exist on those sets.

[Haydn]

Huey, a question about your listening comparison, did you compare them on headphones or out loud on your dj equipment?

On headphones

[triedinthefire]

You can have the best quality CD, if your sound system isn't up to par the sound is going to be terrible anyway. A good MP3 sounds as good as the best CD on most systems I've heard or used.

triedinthefire
http://christiansocialdance.org

[julius]

Are the compression settings for iTunes, Napster2.0, Rhapsody and the like published?

Is there documentation to support that a VBR Lame MP3 song sounds better than a compressed <insert online music service here> song? I guess you can do your own sound tests on a song by song basis - but sensitive audiofiles would probably differ in opinion.

Easy test:

Rip a CD track to mp3, any bitrate or compression you like.

Rip it back into a .wav (which is a lossless procedure).

Rip it back to mp3.

Repeat. Eventually the audio will degrade, and it's because you're encoding it using mp3, which is a lossy compression algorithm. Whether you can hear the loss in a single rip to mp3 is debatable, but you're definitely throwing information away when you rip to an mp3.

Edit: sorry, I misread your original post. Never mind.

[Haydn]

It's not the same exact version, as they are from different CDs. It seems to me that the tracks on 'Listen My Children You Shall Hear'
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005 ... 14-8984832

sound much better than those on 'The Count Basie Story' [BOX SET] on Proper Records
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005 ... 14-8984832

Looking at the track listings it seems the songs on "Listen My Children..." are mostly from the Decca Recordings. So there is probably some overlap with the Proper Box Set since it also includes some of the Decca Recordings.

I've just bought the actual 'Listen My Children and You Shall Hear' Avid CD mentioned above, and the sound quality is far superior to the Proper box set. If they use the same recordings, then the remastering/processing on the Avid one is much better. I have found Avid CDs normally sound good, and many are sold on the iTunes Music Store in the UK (and hopefully the USA) both as CDs and individual tracks.