How come there is no thread on the RealityCheck?


In my opinion this one the greatest improvements in audio in 40 years. AA is full of discussions about it, but there has been nothing here. Maybe that a $575 tweak is beyond Audiogoners?
tbg
Jfz, you are probably right about breakin. I am just not accustomed to thinking about computer related equipment breaking in. We also need to focus on isolating it.
MikeLavigne - I was involved in the shootout at CES. The RC provides a real improvement, but so does my rewriting system, which I call the CD Tune-up. I am using a modified Yamaha writer that has low-jitter modified Superclock and battery power. I rip using EAC on the computer to insure a good read.

At least half of the improvement is by using the right treatment before writing the CD-R. I have tried a lot of them, and so has my partner, highdeftapetransfers.com. I have my own magic fluid now, Spectra and we both like it. The advantage is that these treatments benefit BOTH the write and the readback with these CD-R copies. I do not plan to offer modded writers like the RC and I have not added a rewriting service to my website yet, but I'm considering it. The media is extremely important and I have found that the Mitsui Audio Master is every bit as good as the black Melody disks, which vary a lot in quality, and the Mitsui's will last a LOT longer.

Another important feature of the writer is that it "stretch" or otherwise slow the writing speed in order to get well-defined pits. I write a 1X speed and my writer has a special algorithm to get well-formed pits.

As for the difference in the data, I found that the trailing info is different when using different writers and writing software. The beginnings are all the same. I conclude that the difference that you hear is the lower jitter.

I equate the magnitude of improvement to about $1K-1.5K in mods to a typical transport, so it is a really good value IMO. I performed a number of jitter demonstrations at CES that showed that the improvement was about the same magnitude as a typical digital/power/clock mod on a transport. Of course, if you mod the transport and ALSO rewrite properly treated disks, the results can be amazing, albeit not quite as good as a high-end computer-driven audio source. This will always be lowest in jitter.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/Modder
Audioengr, I found your observations interesting but lacking in evidence. Why do the Mitsui's will last a LOT longer? Why is your cleaner superior?

I am sorry that I missed your demonstrations at CES.
TBG - The Mitsui's are designed for archiving.

The cleaner/treatment will be reviewed in the near future when I am ready to start selling it. I will be providing the reviewers multiple CD-R disks rewritten and treated with all products currently available on the market, including Spectra.
BTW - I looked at the Cool Copy. I cannot believe that you will get decent copies at 52X write speed. All of the copiers that sound good IMO use much lower speed, usually 1X.