[ale] [OT] Help! burned cd playback wave clipped, original wave perfect

[Phil Turmel]

Hi Ron,

On 08/29/2013 01:14 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:

[trim /]

> Look at this file.
> 
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9879631/cd_playback_clipping.png
> 
> The top waveform, titled ripped, is the file that was ripped from the
> cd.  It looks very nice and there is no clipping or excursions beyond
> the +/- 1 amplitude levels.  It's just like the master file.
> 
> The bottom file, titled played, is what was obtained by playing that
> same file (track) back and rerecording it.  Note that it is severely
> clipped, BUT, its excursions are nowhere near the +/- 1 limits.  This
> proves I don't have the input volume too loud.  This is something that's
> happening in the playback circuit of the cd player.  I've confirmed the
> behavior on 2 cd players and observed the same thing on a commercially
> recorded cd.
> 
> Also, I've compared the audio playing back the ripped file, versus the
> played file from the cd player.  The ripped version sounds better and
> fuller.
> 
> I wonder if they're doing some dynamic range compression on the output
> of the dac.  Whatever it is, it's not stored in the raw cd data.
> 
> Does anyone know what this is and if there is a way to eliminate this,
> so that the true waveform on the cd, which is the same as my master, is
> what comes out of the speakers.