THE CD PLAYER PLUS - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

The Glass CD
There is a major sonic difference, with
the Crystal CD sounding markedly
superior in every way.
In dynamics, notably, though several
Any record producer who cares
of the pieces on the conventional
about the quality of audio
disc were not exactly lackluster.
production will tell you the
Pianist Akiko Grace and her
same thing: there’s a big
bassist play Delancey Street
difference between the sound of
Blues with a verve and
the digital master recording
an energy that made it
that is sent to the pressing
difficult to believe we
plant, and the stamped
were listening to a Red
polycarbonate discs
Book CD. Another jazz
that come back from
trio, on track 11, had us
the plant. Indeed,
exclaiming. Soprano
va r iat ions f rom
Hiroko Kouda, singing
plant to plant, or
Mozart’s Allelulia from
even batch to batch,
the Exultate Jubilate, was
are often cited.
as smooth as one could
That may puzzle
wish, with a natural sheen
anyone who feels
that is definitely not a CD
secure in the belief
artifact. Minoko Honda’s haunting
that “bits are bits,” and
version of Amazing Grace may not have
there should be no such
been a purist natural recording, but on
analog-like variations. In
the glass CD her voice seemed to pick
actual fact, the Compact Disc
is an analog medium. That is to
up an extra dimension.
Why a free version? There were some disappointments,
say, though the information on the disc
is digital, it is stored in analog form
because analog is so much more compact.
For example, it is more economical to
express how many “zeros” will go by
before the next “one” than to record all
those zeros individually. The number of
zeros will be represented by the length of
a pit in the disc surface…and that length
is an analog value.
Is there a better way to press a CD?
A Japanese recording organization,
Memory-Tech, thinks it has found one:
glass CDs. Instead of injection-molding
polycarbonate, the company uses a precision
metal stamper
In the diagram at right, resin is
Memory-Tech had inevitably, the fault of the original
sent us For an years early now, demo, we have with been musical publishing, engineers on our rather Web site, than a the free Crystal PDF CD
selections version of pressed our magazine. on conventional CD technology.
and on The a Memory-Tech reason is simple. Crystal We know CD. you’re looking Although for the information, music samples and are from
There that is was almost a considerable certainly why difference, you’ve come “Columbia to visit our Music site. And Entertainment” that’s why (actu-
but we we give complained away what that some neither competitors actually consider ally Denon, to be a not startlingly Sony Music), large you won’t
sounded amount good. of information…for We have since free. received see any mainstream company adopting
new samples, We would and give the it all news away is for good. free, if the we could Crystal still CD stay process, in business. because it has
Recent figures indicate that each issue some is getting obvious downloaded drawback. One as many drawback
as 100,000 Glass times, substrate and that figure keeps growing. is weight. A Crystal Disc weighs 32 g,
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each exactly download… double the weight of a polycar-
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping bonate you CD. enjoy That music translates at home into added
under the best Metal possible stamper conditions. And shipping movies too. cost. We’ll Glass do breaks, what we too. need Then
to do in order to get the information to there you.
Glass substrate
is cost. Making one is a time-
Of course, Resin we also want you to read our consuming published process: editions taking too. We perhaps five
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want minutes to read per on.
disc as opposed to under five
Metal stamper
seconds. The company says it can turn
sandwiched between the metal stamper
(already pitted to represent the music)
Gold layer
out 300 discs a day at present. Memory-
Tech will charge you 100,000 Yen (about
and the glass substrate. They are pressed
together to bond, while ultraviolet light
cures the resin. The disc is now inverted,
and a thin layer of gold is applied to the
Gold layer
Resin
Glass substrate
Protective layer Label
C$1230) just to make the metal stamper
which is at the heart of the technology.
That doesn’t sound so bad, as long as the
actual price per disc is affordable. In fact
resin. A protective sheet is added, and
it’s 21,000¥, about C$230 per disc!
once more cured by UV, and finally the
Resin
Is that way beyond the means of the
label is applied.
Glass substrate
market? Well, duh! But then again per-
76 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
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