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"Tuning" CD's

Shaving Compact Discs to improve the sound (?!)

This Youtube will trigger the usual chorus of self-appointed audio rationalists, but I have a much simpler workaround that involves simply sanding the edge of the CD and then blackening the edge of the CD with a magic marker - all in the service of nullifying incident laser reflections bouncing off the glossy edges of CD's.

The results were so impressive that I now perform this procedure on all of my CD's. I should add that my system plays CD's only which are burned from downloaded flac files. The files are converted to .wav files in JRiver and burned at the slowest speed my desktop drive can achieve.

Please let us know what the you hear or do not hear.

I should also point out that the sonic graphs displayed the the Youtuber for comparison between the treated and untreated CD's are not symmetrical if you look closely.

bolong
tweak1
3,676 posts
 

I have tried many treatments  over the decades. They all eventually oxidize, Easy to hear as the music sounds dull. 2 things that work well

*SystemDesk edge trimmer, though it's a PITA in use

* Machina New Dark Matter. Perhaps the very best (and passive) way to improve the sound. It's a one time insert into your CD tray or well. ccut to shape, comes with gouble sided tape. It absorbs the laser light scattering inside the mechanism. IMHO, it's the best $39 you will ever spend to improve CD sound quality

vonhelmholtz
911 posts
 

I’ve many green edged CDs, but I must admit that I view CD players and transports as unnecessary when you can do bit perfect rips that are played by a high quality server/streamer.

bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,222 posts
 

@tweak1 I have an Esoteric SACD player.  Esoteric states in the user manual do not use any type of tray matt or insert.  There must be a good reason for them to state this? 

tweak1
3,676 posts
 

@bigtwin 

There's always an exception, but I would first check NDM out then ask Esoteric. Hard to imagine not being able to use NDM unless you have a slot load player

ghdprentice
7,127 posts
 

Yep, they were a thing.

 

Audio Prisim StopLight pens. I still have a couple.

 

https://store.acousticsounds.com/includes/image_browser.cfm?title_id=12484

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