[Andy Regan]

 
 
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[size=medium] Cardas Audio is proud to release this app to the world to truly help the listener connect to the music.[/size]
 
[size=medium] Running this app periodically will degauss, and thereby Clarify, the sound of your headphones, earbuds, or stereo. 

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[size=medium] The Clarifying process works by nulling magnetic eddies in speaker pole pieces, crossovers, and other places in the system that, through time and use, get "gaussed up". Mechanical stresses in diaphragms and other moving parts are also relieved - simultaneously relieving stress in the listener.[/size]
[size=medium] The Cardas Frequency Sweep Record, developed by George Cardas, has been an audiophile staple for more than 25 years. First released on vinyl, then adapted into Ayre's "Irrational But Efficacious" CD, it has been used hundreds of thousands of times to bring Clarity and added listening pleasure to music lovers around the world. While still available in these aforementioned formats, the new Cardas Clarifier App makes this process available in this latest and portable form. Not to mention the most economical.[/size]
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[size=medium] The Cardas Clarifier is simple to use:[/size]
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[size=medium] Step 1 - Play your favorite song through your listening system (earphones, earbuds, stereo system, etc.)[/size]
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[size=medium] Step 2 - "Clarify" the system by running the Clarifier's Long Sweep (the Short Sweep is for periodic maintenance).[/size]
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[size=medium] Step 3 - Listen to the same song through the system.[/size]
[size=medium]  [/size]
[size=medium] Cardas Audio is proud to release this app to the world to truly help the listener connect to the music.[/size]

 

[ultrabike]

Hi Andy. Do you have a white paper, reference material(s), and/or independent studies that may further explain degaussing speaker pole pieces, crossovers, etc. through music/tone(s) playback? And how this process will objectively (measurements) and/or subjectively improve clarity and audio reproduction performance through portable devices? Thanks.

 

[IPodPJ]

Andy, isn't the only way to degauss unwanted magnetic fields with an electromagnet or with a large pulse of current traveling through a coil or wire dragged along the surface?  I'm no engineer but I do remember having to degauss my tube televisions, and I had to rent a rather large electromagnetic coil from a nearby electronics shop to do so, which was quite dangerous if not handled properly.  Can you please elaborate on how this is achieved by playing a tone, because it certainly would be a monumental achievement and I'd love to purchase such a tone to use on my computer audio system.

 

[Currawong]

Guys, I've removed a bunch of posts from here. Just as it is rude to thread-crap an appreciation thread with negative comments, it is equally inappropriate to do so in a sponsor's thread. If you have legitimate questions, such as the ones above, please ask, but nonsense and other worthless posts (including discussion about this one) will be removed.

 

[Radio_head]

Seriously guys, George Cardas is a great guy who gives his time and effort freely and tirelessly for this community.  He even participated in the recent headphone panel at T.H.E. Show and imparted his wisdom from years in the industry to a lucky few.  If you think this stuff  is just snake oil - it's time to cross over.

 

[roBernd]

I can understand that it is hard not to swear when you see a product like this... 
a wise choice to skip Android and concentrate on the Apple-crowd ... which is more "open minded" 

...

 

[Todd R]

I put down my big .99 and gave it a try. 
I ran the long and the short sweeps on my JH Audio 16 IEM's. 
The app puts out a sweep tone that goes from the extreme lows to the extreme highs.
I did find that the sound was a tiny bit cleaner sounding after the treatment, like after you use some Windex to clean your windows. 
I'll try it with other headphones and amps later on. 
No night & day difference, but for a buck, why not?

 

[40760]

Quote:

I put down my big .99 and gave it a try. 
I ran the long and the short sweeps on my JH Audio 16 IEM's. 
The app puts out a sweep tone that goes from the extreme lows to the extreme highs.
I did find that the sound was a tiny bit cleaner sounding after the treatment, like after you use some Windex to clean your windows. 
I'll try it with other headphones and amps later on. 
No night & day difference, but for a buck, why not?

At what volume did you do the sweep? And is it safe to actually have your earphones on when the it is being done? Just curious.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

At what volume did you do the sweep? And is it safe to actually have your earphones on when the it is being done? Just curious.

The instructions said to set it to a normal listening level.
I didn't have them in my ears, but held the earpiece close to my ears for a moment so I could hear what it sounded like. 
I wouldn't suggest having phones on/in while the sweep was running.

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

I put down my big .99 and gave it a try. 
I ran the long and the short sweeps on my JH Audio 16 IEM's. 
The app puts out a sweep tone that goes from the extreme lows to the extreme highs.
I did find that the sound was a tiny bit cleaner sounding after the treatment, like after you use some Windex to clean your windows. 
I'll try it with other headphones and amps later on. 
No night & day difference, but for a buck, why not?

 
Interesting.  I'm curious to hear an explanation of what exactly it does and how it works.

 

[Andy Regan]

Hi Guys Andy from Cardas here:
 
Let me start this reply by saying while we thank the moderator for looking out for us, we certainly do not mind and would rather hear what everyone thinks uncensored. Our decision to be a sponsor on Headfi was not to gain some political status but was because we like to support groups we believe in. George and I have been in this business for most of our lives and we find this group refreshing and reminiscent to the formative years in HiFi when the developments in High End performance  where at a feverish pace. We do not mind explaining ourselves and our thoughts. So keep the love letters coming, after all if we don't question each other we don't grow and learn.
 
Below is George Cardas's explanation of the Cardas Clarifier App:
 
"Seriously guys this is super simple. 

 Degaussing is used on everything from tape heads to ships to reduce or eliminate residual magnetism.  Some ships have coils built into them for the purpose.

The gaussing of ferric materials is ubiquitous and has been know for thousands of years.  (think compass's) 


Here is some history: 

 In the old days, analogue tape recorders LOST RESOLUTION as their recording  heads accumulated residual magnetism,   recording engineers used small portable coils or wands to degauss the tape heads.  The wands used a constant sine signal in the coil,  the coil was  placed on the tape head and slowly drawn away manually to attenuate the signal progressively.

 Fluxbuster's  used a sine signal  in the coil of a phono cartridge that was slowly tapered off to degauss the cartridge pole piece.

Circa 1987  Cardas Sweeper LP  , it was released .  The record generates  a signal in the coil that was slowly attenuated in amplitude and period(frequency) , with this LP you could now  run the sweep thru your entire system thus degaussing your speakers. This record is still in production.  (Circulation 30k+)

The Ayre "Irrational but Efficacious"  CD is a very popular CD that incorporates our original sweep..  These sweepers soon made all other methods obsolete for stereo system degaussing. 
 
This is an ancient technology but the real underlying pearl of wisdom is not what we are doing or how we are doing it  BUT WHY!!! 

There is an intrinsic problem with dynamic loudspeakers and this problem  becomes larger and more profound as the speakers becomes smaller for reasons that I will not go into her, it suffices to say that there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people that are regularly degauss much large speakers in their home systems with very good and repeatable results. 

[size=larger]The original method of degaussing was to install electromagnetic coils into or around the ships, it was known simply as coiling.  

[size=larger]In our system the coil is the one in the speaker itself -- a real advantage of the sweeper method is that the signal (and thus associated magnetic field) can be attenuated in both amplitude and time interval (frequency) !!

Degauser's work by alternating reversing the magnetic field in the semi-saturated metal pieces in the speakers magnetic circuit in smaller and smaller increments, moving them towards the  magnetic zero point.   --  In the Clarifier App  I use a logarithmic [/size][size=larger]attenuation[/size][size=larger] of amplitude and time period  (Frequency)  this is noticeably superior to simply attenuating a sine because of material hysteresis.

anyway ...[/size]


[size=larger]This this a great app it will make a little of difference that some of you will appreciate and a few of you will find ALL OF THIS very enlightening   [size=smaller]  [/size][size=larger][size=smaller]HEY it cost a *ing dollar!! [/size] [size=smaller] give it a try[/size]. [size=smaller] Y[/size][/size]ou will learn something and have some fun,  try it on your car stereo if you have a input port do you wife's IEM's she will love you. 

----
OK here is an interesting disclaimer -- the real problem here is in the design of the drivers themselves.  Like in conductors/cables fixing the geometry itself is the real step forward not band-aids like this -this app is a partial and temporary solution that has to be repeated from time to time.  -one of my current projects is the design and production of a driver design that has no saturable  material in the magnetic circuit.. preliminary results are very interesting.    It's why you are all waiting for my IEM's    LOL 


Peace and Harmony
George[/size][/size]
 
 

 

[roBernd]

... so why is the font getting bigger and bigger every few lines... also, bold. 
 
So you say only dynamic headphones are prone to suffer from this effect?
How do electrostatic and orthodynamic headphones add to the bigger picture.
(trying so hard to not rage and get banned)

 

[ultrabike]

Thanks Andy. It seems that in war ships, monitors, and tape players a degauss coil is used to deal with unwanted magnetic fields that would trigger mines, degrade video monitor performance, and degrade cassette player pickup head performance.
 
In the case of ships, the measurable magnetic field fluctuation in the hull would trigger mines. In video, measurable magnetic field accumulation would affect video signal integrity once it hits the screen. On cassette player pickup heads, measurable magnetic field accumulation would degrade audio performance (it's magnetic media after all).
 
In speaker applications, how will a magnetic field measurably and consistently accumulate and/or adversely fluctuate, and degrade performance? And do you have evidence (other than listening experience) that shows the effectiveness of a speaker coil in degaussing itself through tone/music playback (and other elements of the audio reproduction system)?

 

[NOMBEDES]

Holy Flux.  My AR 3a Speakers are 40 years old.  Do I need to degauss them?

 

[eugenius]

I have to hand it to him, he's certainly creative in taking your money.