I'm not sure but I believe that the dynamic range compression used on so many popular music CDs is the result of trying to push the overall volume of the CD way, way up. Remember that dynamic range compression was originally used on radio broadcasts to make the quiet passages louder so that there was never anything close to silence, and silence, aka dead air, is a major no-no in broadcasting. But when one boosts the quiet passages one must also lower the loud passages otherwise these loud passages get way too loud, hence the result is dynamic range compression.
So it's not just dynamic range compression but also an overall boosting of the volume level. One can test this by simply playing an older CD, say from the early 1990s, and then playing a new CD, say from the last few years, and comparing where the volume knob is set for each CD to produce the same relative volume. Finally I believe that there are several "masters" in use when making a CD or an LP. There's the master tape, which is then used to make a separate CD master and then a different LP master. Since the overall volume of an LP can't be boosted like that of CD there is no reason to use as much dynamic range compression on the LP master. Please note that if anything above is not correct, then by all means post a correction. Living Rm: Transporter-SimAudio pre/power amps-Vandersteen 3A Sign. & sub Home Theater: Touch-Marantz HTR-Energy Veritas 2.1 & Linn sub Computer Rm: Touch-Headroom Desktop w/DAC-Aragon amp-Energy Veritas 2.1 & Energy sub Bedroom: Touch-HR Desktop w/DAC-Audio Refinement amp-Energy Veritas 2.0 Guest Rm: Duet-Sony soundbar Garage: SB3-JVC compact system Controls: iPeng; SB Controller; Moose & Muso Server: SBS on dedicated windows 7 computer w/2 Drobos 'Last.fm' (http://www.last.fm/user/jazzfann/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ralphpnj's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10827 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=105070 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
