CD? Japanese differences

[Andy]

Japanese differences are generally agreed upon the UD1 and UD2 discs sound different. Anyone know why? How about the original DCC Japanese discs, do they sound different from the American production?

[Dob]

I compared two Bruce Hornsby CDs - one made in Japan for the USA market (back when all CDs were made in Japan) and a later one that is made in USA (when production was moved here). Same booklet, same catalog number, but one CD has a black border and the other a blue border.

No need to get into which one sounds better (the Japan one, IMHO) - there is a definite DIFFERENCE between the two.

MFSL may have tampered with the UD2 to "improve" it over the UD1, but why on earth wouldn't the USA Hornsby CD simply be a clone of the Japan CD? That would have been the easiest thing to do!

This is not an isolated case - I have many Japan CDs that sound different (better) than the USA ones. Typically, they have a touch more bass and less boosted (harsh) treble.

That said, by MFSL UD2 USA Squeeze "East Side Story" is much better than my Japan aluminum version - passed my blind test!

[Andy]

I'm going to have to start listening closer.

[RicP]

IMO over 16 years of CD collecting I'd say that 75% of the time a Japanese pressing of a given CD will sound better than its US counterpart.

Why? Beats me. Better QA process? Better stamping facilities? All I know is that 3/4 of all the CDs that I've listened to from Japan bests the US version in terms of sound quality. Sometimes it's very subtle...sometimes it's in your face obvious.

I always go to Chinatown now and look for Japanese CD's when I can.

[Dob]

Originally posted by RicP
All I know is that 3/4 of all the CDs that I've listened to from Japan bests the US version in terms of sound quality. Sometimes it's very subtle...sometimes it's in your face obvious.

3 out of 4 sounds about right...

I've heard that German pressings are very good also, but I haven't compared too many. My German Polydor Quadrophenia (original mix) sounds better than my MFSL UD2 (original mix) - according to White Fang (a poster on one of the Who fan sites), it is the best sounding original mix (which I prefer) version on CD.

[Dave]

Andy,

I'm happy to tell you that the quality USA pressed DCCs is equal to the quality of the earlier Japanese pressings, no quality loss here.;)