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Rain-X as CD Enhancement Treatment

I have used the Auric Illuminator treatment on my CD collection for several years now. I am a believer in the AI, and repeated A/B tests of identical treated/untreated CDs bore out significant improvements after treatment with AI.

I ran out of the fluid and my marker dried out, so I was searching for mew treatments on the market before buying another AI kit or choosing something new. That's when I ran across this article by Greg Weaver at Soundstage, where he talks about having used Rain-X and a green marker(Staedtler Lumocolor 357, price about $3.00) as a treatment on his CDs to great effect.

http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize200005.htm

Being the complete geek that I am, I had to try it for my self. I found the marker at Office Depot, and picked up a little bottle of Rain-X for $2.99. I treated a couple of CDs that I have ended up with duplicate copies of (Grant Green's Green Street, Frank Sinatra Sextet Live In Paris)and tested the Rain-X/marker treated vs. untreated disks.

Well, low and behold, the treated disks sounded notably improved; the music was clearer and louder, especially the midrange, the soundstage was larger with better definition and separation of instruments and the bass was tighter and deeper.

I can't say that the Rain-X treatment was or was not better sounding than the AI, but at the least very it is close, for a fraction of the price.

Has anyone else ever tried the Rain-X treatment?
craig_hoch
dgarretson
2,599 posts
 
"Bit is just bits," someone said.

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," Freud said.

But Freud also said:

"My boy, smoking is one of the greatest and cheapest enjoyments in life, and if you decide in advance not to smoke, I can only feel sorry for you." (Freud: A Life for Our Time. Peter Gay, 1989, Anchor Books/Doubleday.)
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Douglas_schroeder...The way to make music subjectively louder is to add distortion! But I don't think your treatment does that either.

My closing remark about UFOs was not arrogant, but just intended to poke a bit of fun, and get a rise out of the true believers. I guess I succeeded.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Eldartford, you're big on the phrase, "I don't think..." Why not do the test? You might be less apt to declare, "I don't think," in the future when you haven't the experience. :)

This is application, not theory. You can spew theory all day long and it won't get resolved. Only by conducting the test will it get resolved.

The arrogance in your UFO comment was the intellectual put down, as you, "intented to poke a bit of fun," and "get a rise out of true belivers." That's arrogance, when the opposing viewpoint is dismissed out of hand through belittling comments. You can attempt to excuse it as humor, but I'll call you on it. :)

So, are you going to set listening level, listen to a track on a disc, apply the polish and wipe clean, reinsert and replay the track? If you can't believe your ears for the astonishment, conduct the test on several more discs. The improvement from tretment will be consistent on every disc, as would be expected.

Let me know how it goes. :)
rodman99999
6,159 posts
 
He won't hear any difference on Blose 901's anyway(hee hee). What a waste of keystrokes!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
OK Guys...This whole thing is supposed to be fun. Don't get your nose out of joint.

Rodman99999...The Bose issue is a perfect example of the "you won't believe it until you try it" arguement. I posted about the UNEXPECTED good sound from the hated Bose901 speakers when used in a very large swimming pool room. I took the trouble to comment on this because it was so unexpected. We can speculate about why this is so. I attribute it to the large unobstructed reflective wall behind the speakers, and replacement of the Bose equalizer with a Behringer DEQ2496. If I were to do the RainX experiment I would naturally use my "good" system with the Maggies.

Douglas_schroeder...If I told you that RainX on your dashboard would dramaticly improve your car's gas milage, would you think it worth trying?

As I have mentioned before I have absolutely zero problem with CDs and DVDs skipping. Never have with several players since CDs were invented. I never clean CDs (unless I spill coffee on them or something like that. I have a theory that frequent cleaning is the cause of the problems that some folk report. I know that the precision optical devices which are used in my work are dusted off with a soft brush once a year or so. Cleaning is detramental to them, and CDs may be the same.
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