CD playback technology question- what's the deal?

[TSmithPage]

A few months ago, someone was kind enough to provide me with a CDR of the Gerry Rafferty DCC gold CD, since I've not had any luck finding an affordable copy of the actual CD. Anyway, when I finally got around to playing it in my home CD player (Harmon Karden 5 disc HDCD unit), the CD sounded like an old beat up record- a lot of ch-ch-ch and all static-y sounding. It kind of sounds like you're listening to a radio station where the station is not quite tuned in or the signal is bad. I had experienced something similar with a disc out of an Alice Cooper box set many months ago, and in both cases, removed the CD from the player, put it in my computer and made a CDR of the offending disc. The copy in each case plays perfect, with no noise whatsoever. The obvious question- is this a problem with the CDs themselves or a problem with the player? It's curious that the data on the CD is apparently fine as I can make a CDR copy of the discs to avoid the noise problem. What's going on in the unit when it can't play these CDs without all this extra noise? Do I need to run it in for repairs?

[Sckott]

Sounds like your HK doesn't like the way that disc was burned because you can copy and the new disc plays ok?

That's possible; weak/picky player.

[TSmithPage]

Thanks for the response, Sckott. I'm playing the offending Rafferty CDR at work as I type this with no playback problems. Likewise, the info on it ripped off fine onto a new blank, that my player then played without any playback problems whatsoever or replication of noise present on the original CDR. In light of that, would you think it's more likely a problem/sensitivity with the player?

[Sckott]

Could also be the dye to the player. I've seen many high-end players NOT play phthalocyanine dye CDrs very well.

Phthalocyanine is the dye used in most CDRs today, and the reflectivity is quite good as of late, but some players just have a hard time tracking the stuff. The organic dyes and the aluminum surfaces certianly DO have a difference. One of the reasons the gold surface was chosen for DCC and MFSL was the high reflectivity, solid coverage and age-durable impression.

Check that disc to many players in or out of the house to see if many other players don't like it...

[Grant]

I have a regular Peter Frampton Comes Alive CD that I can't play in my Sony changer...