Jenn wrote:
Do MOST CDs played on MOST players fail to capture the "warm" sound
that I hear live in decent halls in my view? In my experience, yes.

This is actually a common experience, even among folks with no
particular brief for vinyl. Vinyl does have a warm, resonant sound that
appeals, and you can miss it on CD (except perhaps CDRs burned from
vinyl). I believe that resonant quality results from some phase-related
distortion that others can explain far better than I.

Of course, as you yourself have said, if you like it, it really doesn't
matter how it comes about.

Are there good sounding CDs and good sounding CD players in my view?
Yes, certainly. I'm speaking here about what I hear on average.
And,
to my ears, the best sounding CDs tend to be those that have an
analogue original source, on average. I've heard really good DDD
discs
as well.

DO you agree that the sustained piano notes should be solid in
frequency?

Yes. And, I have to admit that I don't listen to piano recordings
nearly as much as I do to wind music and string music. I don't recal
ever being put off by variation in pitch while listening to piano
recordings. And in my listening to string and wind recordings, I may
not notice it because virtually all of those instruments are played
using vibrato. Or maybe the w&f are below the level where it bothers
me; I don't know. Based on what I do for a living though, I'm fairly
sensitive to pitch differences.

Unless you've got real problems, the pitch variations caused by
imperfect speed regulation should be a lot smaller than the pitch
variation of vibrato. Nonetheless, the former might sound appealing for
the same reason the latter do.

bob

Unless you've got real problems, the pitch variations caused by
imperfect speed regulation should be a lot smaller than the pitch
variation of vibrato. Nonetheless, the former might sound appealing for

the same reason the latter do.
bob

True, of course.