Circuit City sent me a reply to a question about their statments about MD on
their website. The reply is listed first, followed by the question that I
sent them:
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Circuit City
Dear Mr. Callahan:
Thanks for writing with your comments. As a fellow lover of quality sound I'm
always glad to hear from those with different opinions. Heck...that's part of
what makes audio fun. Let me first say that I think you misunderstood part of
what we are saying about mini-disc and that we're really in agreement.
We aren't saying that tapes of CD's are as good as mini-discs of CD's. I
suppose
one could make that argument at the very highest end of tape decks under
extraordinary recording control circumstances, but certainly no tape deck we
sell can make a tape of equivilent quality to your mini-disc. So we agree
there.
We also totally agree with you on MP3...but it sells way more than MD so we
advertise it more. We are bringing in new MD products now and fully intend to
continue to support the format along with MP3 and CD-R Audio for digital
recording.
What we are saying is that in direct listening comparison to the original CD,
there is a small difference in sound quality with a mini-disc. I would call
it a
slight dulling or blurring of the musical signal. This is something I have
heard
myself as well as read in much of the industry press over the last few years.
Does that make mini disc a bad format... no way...but to me it does disqualify
it from being an audiophile storage medium. If you can't hear the slight
difference with your equipment then mini disc is a perfect choice for you and
I
suspect the vast majority of people will be absolutely satisfied with mini
disc
and discern no difference between it and their CD's. Nevertheless, we stand by
our comments that it isn't quite as good as the original CD....really, really
close but not quite.
I hope this puts our opinion in a better perspective for you and I do want to
thank you once again for taking time out to share yours. I'll take my CDRW and
you can take your MD....and as long as we're both listening to good tunes
with a
smile on our faces, that's what it's really all about!
Best regards,
George Barr
Director - Internet Development
http://www.circuitcity.com
---- In Reply To ----
Your web site says: "Mini-discs don't have frequency response or other
"normal"
hi-fi measurements because the ATRAC system does not permit "straight"
measurement of the compressed/reduced data. Some audiophiles object to this
and
prefer to stick with high end cassette decks or expensive DAT machines for
critical recordings. We won't argue this point, for if you put on headphones
and
compare a CD to an MD recorded from the CD, you will hear some minor
degradation
if you listen closely." Huh? I don't know who's listening for you, but there
is
no tape in existance that can compare favorably to MD. I use MD all the time,
with headphones, and do not hear the "minor degradation" of which you speak.
I'm
an obsessive audiophile who would like to see MD grab a better market share in
the US as it has in Japan, Europe & Australia. I've purchased MD equipment at
circuit City, but I'm starting to find more available at Internet locations;
you
seem to have made more room for(shudder)MP3, which TRULY has sound degradation
problems and memory issues, among other things. Just my .02
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word
"unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
