Today I ordered the first two rereleases of Queen's Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits 2 cd from CD-Japan, which are to be released in Januari 2011. These are the first releases for Queen (on Universal) on the SHM-CD format. (Super High Material)
The polycarbonate plastic of which the cd is made, should provide a much better quality in sound and can be played in common cd-players.
Has anyone of you any experience with these kind of SHM-cd's?
Personally I can't hear any difference between a normal cd and shm-cd, but I still think it is positive that they release it on a high-quality plastic, so that it can endure more 'wear and tear' than a normal CD. I think the sound that comes out depends more on the mastering of the product, than such audiophile formats. Correct me if I am wrong, but the audio on a CD is encoded in a whole bunch of ones and zeros(read: digital), it won't make any difference soundwise as long as the CD-player can read the numbers. Bits will still be bits :P
Kniggit
Kniggit wrote: . Correct me if I am wrong, but the audio on a CD is encoded in a whole bunch of ones and zeros(read: digital), it won't make any difference soundwise as long as the CD-player can read the numbers. Bits will still be bits :P
Kniggit
It's not really ones and zeros, it's a series of pits that is read by the laser and then converted. I also don't think that the physical properties shouldn't affect the sound but may only make the disc more resistant to scratching.
well, I've read a review about classical music on SHM-cd and it sounded way better than the original cd.
So I hope the material will make a difference. It should be easier for the laser to read the disc.
Queen is talking about rereleasing the entire catalogue.... That might be on SHM, don't know.
In January I'll know... :)
I can't see how the quality of the material can change the music, I reckon that the reviewer is talking out of his/her arse. Unless the music was remastered I can't see why there would be any difference in sound.
I should think if there is any difference to be heard you would need pretty high end equipment, ripping it to an mp3 player would defeeat the object too.
I beg to differ with some of the comments above.
I own the Japanese SHM-CD release of Slash’s new album and it sounds WAY better than my standard UK version.
Keith.
The big question of course, is will these sound any better on standard Hi-Fi equipment and 'normal priced' CD players?
(infact I use a Pioneer DVD-A player)
At £22 each, i'd hope they would, BUT will these releases also include the bonus material we are due to get?
Depending on how good the remastering is on the new releases, it may just be worth paying out for these (hopefully) definitive versions.