Playing Burned CDs in Solara (2 questions)

[blarneystone]

Hi,

I had a few questions about playing burned CDs in the Solara stereo.

The first is: is it just me, or do all burned CDs sound like hell when playing on the Solara stereo? I'm a member of several of the music purchasing services like realplayer's and musicmatch. I have tried several different burning programs, and using various settings. But when I play them on the stereo there is a noticeable difference between a Pro CD and a burned CD. I have not noticed that on any other car stereo before.

My second question is: when I purchase music from RealPlayer, and burn that music to a disk using the RealPlayer built-in burner, it will label the tracks so Titles can be viewed on the Solara stereo. However if I use the same burning program, with some different songs that I've Ripped from a CD, it will not labeled the songs properly and I cannot see the titles when I hit that text button on the Solara stereo. Is there a special method to burning CDs that puts the text and so that I can see the text on the Solara stereo?

[2004SolaraSE]

Hi,

I had a few questions about playing burned CDs in the Solara stereo.

The first is: is it just me, or do all burned CDs sound like hell when playing on the Solara stereo? I'm a member of several of the music purchasing services like realplayer's and musicmatch. I have tried several different burning programs, and using various settings. But when I play them on the stereo there is a noticeable difference between a Pro CD and a burned CD. I have not noticed that on any other car stereo before.

My second question is: when I purchase music from RealPlayer, and burn that music to a disk using the RealPlayer built-in burner, it will label the tracks so Titles can be viewed on the Solara stereo. However if I use the same burning program, with some different songs that I've Ripped from a CD, it will not labeled the songs properly and I cannot see the titles when I hit that text button on the Solara stereo. Is there a special method to burning CDs that puts the text and so that I can see the text on the Solara stereo?

I'm not expert on this but most of my CD's are all burned from the net, if you download some music from the net.........try to play it back again to see if you can hear noise or scartchy sound........because I have the same problem with some of my burned CD's..........as for the text it won't give you text on burned cd's ......it should but I don't know why is not showing up............

[sorkang724]

is not the stereo or the c.d. .....is the quality of the mp3

[Shoe]

part 1 the crappy sound test

here is how i would test the crappy sound

Get a normal outa the store purchased cd and rip a few songs hell rip the whole album and have a backup copy for your car.

Burn those ripped songs to a cd and see if you get the same quality.

When you rip make sure you use bit rate of 128 or over 160 would be ideal 320 will give you the best quality.

If you get sound you like then its your source for mp3s. Mp3s can be funny cause ya never know whos making the mp3s? Is it a pro who works in a sound studio? Is it "Amanda" the girl who knows how to like oh my god turn on the computer? Ya never know, but a place like real player where im assuming your purchasing your download should have a clear quality bit rate.

* but then you never know eg sonys new mp3 player walkman idea plays back their music at a bit rate of something like 64 ( wich is really stripping it down)

ok another sugestion would be the types of cds your burning to? name brand? whats the color on the foil blue /green/ silver?

Get a decent name brand like memorex or sony maxell ect stay away from stuff like"super comp cdrs" ( green foil backs have also been said to have poorer quality)

as far as your other question with the burning program I can only answear based on the burning software i use ( toast on a mac) same company makes (ez cd creator for winblows) anyway theres an option when burning audio cds a little check box for burning cd text, its an option in newer burning software. ( actually surprised that real player cd burning system has this)

good luck

shoe

[jsie]

The first is: is it just me, or do all burned CDs sound like hell when playing on the Solara stereo? I'm a member of several of the music purchasing services like realplayer's and musicmatch. I have tried several different burning programs, and using various settings. But when I play them on the stereo there is a noticeable difference between a Pro CD and a burned CD. I have not noticed that on any other car stereo before.

Yes they are. You have good ears; also, the better your sound system, the more noticeable the different. Those downloaded music are compressed for storing & transfering time purposes; and, these musics are compressed using method called lossy compression (i.e.: mp3) as oppose to the non-lossy compression (i.e.: zip file). The advantage of lossy compression, they can save space to 1/10th of the original size or even smaller vs. non-lossy compression that usually only can go half the original size at the best. The downside of the lossy compression is that you will loose quality everytime you compress and decompress (the computer need to decompress to play or to burn to music CD format).

I think the next logical thing you may try is to download from Apple iTunes http://www.itunes.com as I believe their proprietary compression "AAC" are currently the best. If you are still not happy with it, then your only option I believe is buying those prerecorded CDs.

[boaclub923]

hum, sounds like u having JBL stereo on ur car hun?
the "noise" happen because ur source music is compressed too much, and it's bad.
burn some music that is over 192kbps, it will decrease the chance to hear those "ionized" sound.

i played couple burned sounds on my bro's mercedes. gosh, even i used 182kbps, the ionized sound still wont' go away. cause mercedes is using optical signals rather than JBL's digital singals. i guess too high quality stereo is not good in a way; can't play burn music anymore. ><

for the CD-Text stuff, i need to sepecific program that u use, cause many programs has different meth to edit it. but the most common way is right b4 u go burn CD, on the burning list, right-click on tracks and choose "property." usually progam lets u edit the soundtrack title.

[jsie]

Get a normal outa the store purchased cd and rip a few songs hell rip the whole album and have a backup copy for your car.

Burn those ripped songs to a cd and see if you get the same quality.

When you rip make sure you use bit rate of 128 or over 160 would be ideal 320 will give you the best quality.

Once the music has been gone lossy compression; it cannot go back to the original quality. Refer to my earlier posting. The 320k would give the best sound quality mp3 can do, but cannot match never been lossy compressed music.

If the objective to get best quality sound and do not care about the file size, rip as non-compressed into .wav in PC or AIFF file in Mac.

You may rip then compare the 128/160/320k and uncompress, and see at which point you can accept the quality vs space saving benefit.

ok another sugestion would be the types of cds your burning to? name brand? whats the color on the foil blue /green/ silver?

Get a decent name brand like memorex or sony maxell ect stay away from stuff like"super comp cdrs" ( green foil backs have also been said to have poorer quality)

The CD have an error correction built in; so when there's a reading error it can be corected. But depends on the quality of the CD itself, the error rate could be drastically different. On good quality CD where error seldom happens, the error could be corrected to perfect condition. But, on cheapo CD, the error happens so often that it become not fixeable and become noticeable in the sound quality even skipping.

[mtodde]

As an audiophile I deplore the whole MP3 thing...I've never heard an MP3 that sounds close to being as good as the original CD...much less sound anywhere near what I get on SACD or 24bit/96kHz audiophile discs. Now I'm not one of those people that preach about how much better vinyl is, but I will admit that vinyl sounds more life like.

I'm afraid that they success of MP3 and seeming indifference many people have about its inferior sound quality will lead to a decline in the audio industry. It is amazing how many friends are surprised that I don't own an MP3 player since I'm an audio person...there is a difference between a music/audio fan and an audiophile that many people do not recognize.

As several folks have pointed out, the better the system the more you reveal the deficiencies of the source material...think about watching a non-HD channel on a HDTV; it looks like crap. Heck, compared to HDTV a DVD looks crappy sometimes...

Much of the problem is with the compression involved...I'm sure one of these days someone will work out the alogarhythms (somebody help me spell please) and it will sound as good as a CD...then people like myself will complain that it doesn't sound as good as it does in person, LOL.

CDs that have been burned have a similar problem...whether burned on a computer or even a fairly high end player with a built in recorder. A commercial grade recorder sounds pretty good, but you've got to step up to a professional model to really get good sound.

[blarneystone]

You all make some good points. Here's what I've found since some of the comments indicate some burning strategies. Since I download mainly from Musicmatch and realplayer, the encoding is 192Kbps WMV. Which is good from what I've been told. Heck I dunno.

As far as the quality goes, not sure, but I might try some different enhancement settings...like Nero has a setting that is supposed to help with burned CD sound. who knows it might work.

But to get the CD text onto a CD it MUST be burned using DAO, not track by track. I had to make the switch away from DAO due to some errors I was getting, so I did lose the CD text.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[msz31]

I have also noticed that some burned CDs do not play well at all. The problems I have had seem to be isolated to the first 3 or 4 tracks. The music will often skip or cut out. I have tried burning the songs in different orders and it is always the first few tracks. I played the CD in a pioneer player in my Supra and noticed only the first track skips, but if played once through, the problem disappears completely. The odd thing is that I have other CDs that have been burned that work fine in both players.

[obegong]

Hey guys, I have a burned Maroon 5 CD I happened to make before accidentally cracking my original in pieces. When I play the burned CD in my `05 stock SE V6 audio system, the CD is perfect the first couple of plays through, but after say 20 or so times, the music starts to sound scratchy and it skips a lot...sometimes to the point where it just freezes: I can’t even skip to the next track or go back to the previous track; I have to eject the CD and reinsert it for it to start playing again. And of course the scratchy noise comes back immediately. The scratchy noise sounds continuous and doesn’t depend on the loudness/rhythm/beat of what’s being played, it just sounds like some DJ scratching in the background as the music's being played.

I have noticed this happening to many of my other burned CDs, mainly classical CDs where crappy sound quality is very sensitive and noticeable.

This problem is independent of whether or not I’m driving the car, as I’ve tested it both in the garage with just the key turned halfway AND while I’m driving on the streets/highway. BUT one time, the road was bumpy and the scratching noise shifted/”bounced” to the bumps in the road in perfect unison, like it was synchronized or something.

Any feedback would be appreciated...do I need to purchase one of those CD Cleaner kits? This car was only purchased back in late November ’04...so yea...thanks a lot~

[Down2TheC]

is not the stereo or the c.d. .....is the quality of the mp3

ditto. It's not the stereo. It's just that the stereo is good enough for you to notice the difference between raw tunes and compressed. If you keep the MP3's 192Kbps or better then you might not be able to pick up the difference. (That's my level of acceptance) If you have 128Kbps, it's trash. The better the sound system the more you can hear it. Tunes sound a little fuzzy especially on the high end. So try to rip your CD's from high quality MP3's or right from the original CD.

P.S. Obegong, my guess is a warped CD. Our HU is sensitive that way. Rip another copy and see if that's better. PC CD drives are a bit more resilient and might not have an issue with it.

[obegong]

bump bump bump

[obegong]

...anyone...?

[Down2TheC]

Do you have any Toyota buds that you can take a "Bad" CD from your car and play it in another HU? Maybe go to the dealership and play some in the new stereos. If it doesn't happen then you can point to the HU. (Warranty?)