Norah Jones and *Blue Train* SACD owners, do your discs have spindle cracks? (Crest) (1 Viewer)

[KeithH]

I am eager to run out and buy the Norah Jones and Coltrane Blue Train SACDs, but seeing as they are hybrids and were manufactured by Crest (for distribution in the US), I am concerned about spindle cracks. If you have either or both of these SACDs, have you seen spindle cracks? Thanks in advance.

 

[John Tillman]

Keith, I'm thinking about picking these titles up and I'm certainly concerned about spindle cracks. But what is the worst case scenario with them, has there been known cases of players being damaged? I'm still using a 555 and as we know, they can no longer be replaced.

 

[Kristoffer]

My pink Floyd is also cracked...
But plays fine.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I think it comes down to whether you believe that Crest is truthful when they say they tightened their manufacturing tolerances. On the one hand, they could lie to avoid a black eye from the DSOTM.

On the other hand, it seems to me that Crest would rapidly suffer in reputation and ability to win pressing contracts from labels if they had any quality control issues. For this reason, my suspicion (although I don't know for sure either way) is that Crest has likely addressed these issues on the new releases.

 

[Justin Lane]

Keith, I received both the disc you mentioned this week, and have to to see cracks appear. Of course they are both in my player and have yet to be spun numerous times. My copy of DSOTM just recently developed cracks after owning it for a couple months, so the cracks my not appear instantly after initial use.

I hope Crest changed their injection process as they have said, but there has been problems with PG Up, released well after DSOTM, making me doubt Crest's so called changes.

J

 

[KeithH]

Well, I went out and bought the Norah Jones SACD today. There were no cracks right out of the case. I've listened to it once through (sounds great), and I'll check the disc later tonight to see how it is holding up. I'll post more later.

 

[Lin Park]

Could someone enlighten me as to what problems these cracks might cause?

Thanx,
Lin

 

[KeithH]

Lin, I don't think anyone knows for sure what problems the cracks could cause, but there has been a lot of speculation. Some people have observed the cracks getting worse through extended use to the point where they are approaching the data area of the disc. At that point, a disc may not be playable. Also, there are theories that cracked discs could shatter during playback due to the extreme forces on the polycarbonate at high rpms (the heat generated inside a player could exacerbate the situation). I am not aware of anyone experiencing shattering, but I can see how it might happen.

As a result of all the speculation and the fact that the cracks are a manufacturing defect, I wouldn't use cracked discs.

 

[Phil_DC]

Hmm?
I have heard of these cracks before but I was told they were heat related not manufacture related. So as a precaution I have been only listening to my DVD-A's and SACD's no more than twice through then removing them from the player to cool off.

BTW I have Norah's SACD, no cracks and it's sounds awesome!

 

[Danny Tse]

Purchased Norah Jones SACD last night from Best Buy....no cracks. Yet??

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The discs don't have to shatter to concern me. My SACD player cost too much for me to have little plastic shards bouncing around inside the player.

Regarding my Peter Gabriel 'UP' disc, it has been backordered at the CC web site for a week now. This is not typical. Maybe they've recalled the 'UP' discs from retail?

 

[Rich Malloy]

No... uh, not yet.

(Yes, Pumpkin-Heads, that's a Zappa quote!)

No cracks yet on "Up" either.

 

[Carlo_M]

Purchased Norah's SACD yesterday and no cracks.

Don't know how to tell where it was manufactured though, if that makes a difference. If someone wants to tell me how to find out, I'll look at my copy tonight.

 

[Mike Broadman]

No cracks in mine. Haven't spun the discs yet.

 

[Lewis Besze]

No crack on Blue Train,but it has other problems IMO.
Check out my "review" of it in this section.

 

[John Geelan]

Still no cracks on my Up sacd.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Anybody check the inner ring and make sure your disc was actually made by Crest?

 

[Rich Malloy]

Would it say "Crest" on it, Michael, or is there some other designation?

FWIW, I've played both "Up" and "Come Away" twice more, and no cracks have yet appeared. I have what appear to be 3 little hairline "spider" cracks on my "DSotM" disc, but they've been there since the first time I was made aware of this and haven't yet gotten worse. I'm not quite sure if these are the same "cracks" that others have mentioned as they appear to be only very faint, very tiny scratches... but I've been assuming that cracks is what they are!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Rich,

My cracked DSOTM does say 'Crest' on the inner ring. Yeah, you almost need a magnifying glass to see it.

Even titles that sell in smaller volumes than DSOTM may be pressed at multiple facilities.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

My cracked DSOTM doesn't mention "Crest" anywhere, including the inner ring. The cracks I have are what Rich described above.

Just received my Norah Jones SACD, and no cracks (yet). And oh, I can really see why this album is so well loved!

_Man_