Clean away old CD treatments

 So did any of these treaments bring about any improvement to the sound.  I have used optrix with mixed results

there are many things wrong with CDs. they can develop electric static charge, magnetic field, they presumably have mold release compound that has been absorbed by the polycarbonate, the CDs are often out of round, which the reason for that CD trimmer. not to mention that coloring the CD, e.g. green pen, reduces the amount of background scattered light getting into the photodetector, at the the visible red portion.

After I began using Optrix, I couldn't listen without it. Even my grunge sounded grungy. When Optrix was discontinued, I switched to Shine-ola, which I found to be much better. More analog, more vibrant. So I decided to try the Ultrabit, which is supposedly the best. I am undecided about the Ultrabit. The clarity is stunning. But I think it made the discs sound bright, almost glaring. Initially I found the discs difficult to listen to, but now I might be getting used to it.

I've treated about 50-60 of my discs total. This weekend I am washing them all, going back to the beginning. Then I'm going to do a small test with just a few CDs between the Shin-ola and Ultrabit. Anyway, Ultrabit is discontinued now, so this is the end of it. I might try L Art du Son also, but enough is enough.

Geoffkait, the OP wanted to remove old cleaners, for which I suggested Dawn. Introducing magnetism and static charge to the conversation seems a bit off field. In any case, the OP can get a demagnitizer, which I would endorse, as I have noticed a marked sound quality difference after using it.-And, I really was expecting it to make no difference!
Some of these tweaks aren't snake oil sometimes.

gdnrbob

Geoffkait, the OP wanted to remove old cleaners, for which I suggested Dawn. Introducing magnetism and static charge to the conversation seems a bit off field.

Not really off field since many CD "cleaners" do more than just clean. As i already pointed out, since some cleaners remove MRC you cannot really "start over from scratch" since once treated with many cleaners the CD will always be better than its original state. besides many CD cleaners such as Optrix employ an anti static agent. Dawn may or may not remove MRC, I don’t know. And most likely it doesn’t contain anti static agents, but anything is possible.

cheers