Just received a Destat III, am using it exclusively on CDs. You would not think a CD could hold much of a static charge, and so what if it did? While a record with a charge may attract and hold dust in its grooves, a CD seems to clean off easily with a lens brush and a puff of air---no dust there. Apparently, there's much more to static charge than dust--the Destat also works on cables, tonearms, tubes--anything you can get it close to. Here's part of a review by "The Audiophile Man":
I’m talking tiny levels here but tiny levels are enough to make an audible difference. Dulling it a bit. You’ll find that lots of tiny things are affected like bits of reverb here, removal of air and space there, constriction of the mids here, squashing of the bass there. Subtle stuff that you might easily dismiss on an individual basis. Trouble is, you add those hundreds – actually thousands – of little sonic nudges and squeezes and the overall effect of noise on your music is pretty nasty. Noise sucks the soul out of music, in fact. You only really hear the effects when, oddly enough, they’re not there. Until then, your brain probably will wonder what all the fuss is about. Get rid of the stuff, though, and then you’ll understand.
You can most obviously physically see resident static as it attracts dust to your vinyl but static is all over the place. Getting rid of static from your hi-fi can prevent the build up of dust on the surface of your vinyl but it also promises to improve sound quality.
What I am hearing is a smoother, more open sound. Along with that comes a bit more resolution, of course. I really like this thing.
