Chinese press cds: any difference?

[Blues 0]

Are there any differences in sound quality, esp comparing to taiwan, HK or Singapore press? I've recently acquired a few china made cds.. of certain titles like SHIN, penny dai,and some others. I never owned the other press to make a comparison. I wonder if anyone has ever done so. The only one I remembered comparing was jay's 4th album(taiwan press) vs the chinese counterpart, I couldn't hear any difference on my system. hrm.. but then the chinese one is 1/2 the price

Edited October 4, 2004 by Blues

[Blues 0]

I've opened and checked all the booklets, etc

For $7 I am pretty impressed with their packaging. Granted it doesn't look quite as nice as what I used to have(some hk&taiwan press cds), and the printing is abit unprofessional, but otherwise they look not bad. I wonder if the low pricing is determined by the chinese market? Perhaps the consumer there are not willing to pay so much for the cds hence they release the cd with less bells and whistles? (aka no vcd bundle, no poster and that sort of stuffs that they usually come with?)

Now my main concern is the sound quality! ...

[N3w_Typ3 0]

Yo yo .. i also been wondering this for a very long time too ... but i think you need different CDs and songs to comfirm the different !.... so Blues now is up to you to update us .... ( well personally i did not hear any differences ... )

 

enjoy and have fun !

[Blues 0]

Now listening to FIR... damn nice album.. now then able to listen to it

N3w, you have the album(taiwan press )? come to my house someday after exam and we compare

very excited

[N3w_Typ3 0]

Haha sure, i got the taiwan press !! hehee ... you are lucky .. i haven't return to my uncle !!

[lekguan 0]

How did the comparison go?

I have a couple of China pressings, although i can't compare to the same album, but pressings somewhere else, I should say they are no way inferior to my other albums. In fact pretty good.

[nakedtoes 0]

yea the quality is quite good and i am surprise by the low cost too.. Some are HDCD somemore..

[sayhitojason 0]

Hmm... interesting. I guess the quality of the CD will depend on the manufacturer, and how they process and press the CDs. Just like all CDs, some companies like Chesky, Sheffield Labs etc are known for their attention to the audio quality. I should think this applies to China-pressed CDs as well. Some are bound to be good, and some not so good.

 

It will be helpful for those who have made a comparison to state the recording company. Generally speaking, I find that quality of a CD depend a lot on the recording company.

[lekguan 0]

Here the comparison is between SAME albums, one pressed either in Taiwan or Singapore, and the other in China. Recording, mastering etc all same, just different country press.

[N3w_Typ3 0]

and is alot cheaper !!

[sayhitojason 0]

I see. Where do you guys get your supply of China-pressed CDs? I think I'll buy a few to compare. I saw some on sale at Bugis Village, going for approx. $7 - $8. Is that the usual price, or is there someplace cheaper?

[Absolute0 0]

That's quite cheap, considering Music Junction, Sembawang Music, Poh Kim, etc. sell them for $9.90 onwards. Mostly pop of course.

[sayhitojason 0]

You mean places like Poh Kim, Sembawang sells China-pressed CDs? I thought these were only available in pasar malams, some music stores in Chinatown etc.

[Absolute0 0]

Those are legal parallel-imports from China, I would tend to think that they are China-pressed as well. In fact these are quite common, esp. among Chinese pop albums, like those of Jay Chou. S.H.E., F.I.R., Stefanie Sun, Jackie Cheung, etc. Those sold in pasar malams are more likely to be pirated.

[lekguan 0]

If you go Chinatown the wet market cum hawker centre that building ground level, its cheaper. A few shops jut up the price, but generally they sell the China pressings at $5.90 (for the plain, simple, jewel case + CD and booklet). A few other more fancy stuff like S.H.E latest album goes for $6.50, wu yue tian's cost $6.90, etc....

English pop you can also find some China pressings.