Grateful Dead

While I completely agree with equipment cleaning and maintenance to facilitate my favorite pastime I will say my issue is likely bad discs. They skip on the same songs consistently. It’s all good though. The biggest one was the PNW box where 2-3 discs skipped. Rhino helped me out. My last Dave’s skips on the last track of the final disc. The music never stops!

Yep, the optical reader could just need a cleaning via Istshows fine intel, or, it could be starting to fail.
First I would try to play discs in good shape that you’ve had problems with using different players.
If the problems migrate with the different players, you may have disc problems, if not, it’s your player…
Yeah, guessing something lost in translation but analog amplifiers only do one thing: they take a low level single, and well they amplify it lol. Now if by amp you mean some kind of receiver or AVR (audio video receiver) their probably is a digital input section/DAC (digital audio converter), but if there was a problem it would just not work, it would have nothing to do with reading the discs…again, I’d say try another player with the pesky discs and if they play ok then perhaps try to clean your optics.
Maybe what your describing is not the disc? If not, try different cables. If there ok then try another input on your preamp or receiver, sometimes inputs go bad or get funky…

1stshow: most likely you’ve nailed the difference in the players. 90s is a lifetime ago as far as digital tech goes.
My first CD player back in 86 was the 2nd down from top shelf Sony ES players. Cost mucho 1986 dineros, and I loved that player, had cool functions etc. In the early oughts it started to have read/optic problems so I took it to our trusty tech at the high end shop I used to go to. They said besides the cost to fix it, it wasn’t worth it because the optics and processing tech was already so far advanced i wouldn’t want to fix it….

Love to hear what you guys find out…

PS, some discs just don’t play nice with certain players. No problems with disc or player, just sometimes they don’t like each other. Again, recommend trying out pesky discs on other players. FYI, you can always pop em in your DVD or Blu-ray player as many will play CDs (look for the CD icon somewhere on the player) current, often lower price ones may not? If need be, take some of the questionable discs to a friends and try…

Oh, another friendly tip. Keep the dust away from all electronics. Second worst thing for em besides water, ahem…
When dust builds up, it traps and causes more heat, not good for your toys! Then, more heat attracts more dust, and becomes a vicious circle, not unlike the Oroboros lol
Also, let ‘em breath, don’t stack things that get hot on top of each other as it will shorten life span, or worse.
This is especially true of any micro processors!!! Old analog gear that was engineered well might be more tolerant, but modern gear, especially with any chips, will not do well with excessive heat.

CD players need to be cleaned every few years depending on how dusty it is where it sits. I have a mid 90s Kenwood disc changer that just wouldn't read certain discs and skipped on others. I put it aside and bought a replacement which worked fine. Then I read up on how to clean the laser optical lens and gave it a try as I wanted to put the Kenwood back in service in a second system. It required some disassembly that looked difficult but was not after I got in there. Cotton swab dipped in eyeglass cleaner and done. Works perfectly and all my CDs play perfectly now. Even those with light scratches on them from when I used to play them in the car. (The little dust catcher on my old car player where the CD goes in is the scratchy thing. I don't play CDs in the car anymore anyway.) May even be a video tutorial on utube on your model or close enough to help. All my stuff is analog but I know my "amp" does not read anything, it just amplifies what it is given. Funny thing is I like the sound of my cheap replacement CD player better. I think just being newer it has superior digital technology like how many times oversampling or whatnot. Still want an HDCD player for the big system someday but they both work so I'll just keep on truckin'. Good luck! P.S. I tried a CD cleaning disc, even with fluid, many times over the years and it didn't do anything. From what I read they are damaging to the lens so don't bother with one of those. Do a proper job. P.P.S. Some say the cotton swab may leave fibers but I did not have an issue.
Cheers

@DAVE ROCK Thanks for the info!

Wharfrat - I haven't had any with that problem, although it has occurred with non Dead discs. My hi fi has good taste-ha!
But it was pointed out to me when I got a new telly set up last December, that although my cd/record players are only a few years old, my amplifier is more like 20 years old. The technician who set up my telly, said that this meant the amp didn't always read discs as efficiently as it had done originally-which I think could be why certain discs - and nearly all burned discs - don't always play okay. For example -starting at track 2 instead of 1, registering a disc as "empty" - then after a few tries playing okay.
I just wondered if this could be why some of your discs skip.

I’m stoked for this one. That said I’ve had a lot of skippy discs on box sets and Dave’s picks so praying for problem free box. Peace

but the ABB on the evening of 6/9 was formidable. If that's an upcoming release, then I'm on it like white on rice.

Ok a girl can dream lol.
It would certainly be nice to have for long fourth holidaze…
Whatevs, as long as it arrives…

Hopefully soon. I'm really excited about this box. Always wanted to hear Kezar in all its glory. We even did a Dead Head TV feature on Kezar, I'll be releasing it soon. I love 73 and 74, that's my fav years, although I love all the years, such an incredible band!

Sounds good. Hopefully it will be on general release.