[penvzila]

http://www.tweakaudio.com/Cd%20tweaks.html

 

[mbriant]

That's not funny, it's sad.

 

[elnero]

Hehe, ummmm, damn the worst part is I've actually heard a difference from a couple of those tweaks.

A friend in the "industry" recieved a few of these green stabilizing mats quite a few years ago and he gave me one to use. It was made of a thin green hard plastic, nothing fancy. I didn't bother using it for a long time and then for some unknown reason I started using it all the time. I really didn't think it made any difference whatsoever until one day I forgot to put in on. I was in the middle of doing something when I thought "damn this just sounds awful, what the hell is wrong with the system" I started poking around at wires making sure everything was connected ok and then I saw the mat sitting there. I put it on and I'll be damned but everything was back to normal. I don't know if it actually stabilized the CD or if it was the green color. When I bought my new DVD player I tried the mat but it didn't make any difference that I could tell so I haven't bothered with it. The drives in DVD players are generally better and sturdier so that would lead me to believe that it was really acting as a stabilizer.

The other I heard was the demagnatizer. A couple of us blind tested this and I couldn't believe it but it really was noticable. Not a huge difference and definately not enough for me to bother with the hassle every time I put a CD in but it was there.

Ahh well, the joys of hi fi. I guess what I learned is not to write something off until I've tried it. That said some of them really do sound funny though. Gee, who ever thought to sit down and sand they're CD collection.....

Phil

 

[penvzila]

THere is no way that the difference is noticeable. NONE

 

[aeberbach]

You missed the best of all, I can't even remember the site now but there was some crazy guy/con man trying to sell a bag full of pieces of amber to be arranged on top of stereo components. (it offered the usual improvements... imaging, blackness etc.)

 

[Beagle]

"This water based polish will smooth the rough edges on the pits resulting in less optical jitter and better sound"

Aren't the pits underneath the top plastic layer?

 

[acs236]

FYI, since I'm too cheap to go out and by sand paper, I just rub the CD between my foot and the floor. That seems to do the trick just fine.

 

[RobertR]

remember years back when Sam Tellig of Stereophile sprayed his cd's with Armorall and became estatic over the increased depth, sound stage ,clarity etc. Then the magic green marker came along which later clogged lasers and assemblies with tiny green bits.
This is the same group that claim to have "golden ears"
The placebo effect goes out the window during blindfold tests.

When J. Gordon Holt left Stereophile went downhill IMO.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally posted by RobertR When J. Gordon Holt left Stereophile went downhill IMO.

Now he's joined TAS and it's gone downhill.

 

[bifcake]

Quote:

Originally posted by RobertR remember years back when Sam Tellig of Stereophile sprayed his cd's with Armorall and became estatic over the increased depth, sound stage ,clarity etc. Then the magic green marker came along which later clogged lasers and assemblies with tiny green bits. This is the same group that claim to have "golden ears" The placebo effect goes out the window during blindfold tests. When J. Gordon Holt left Stereophile went downhill IMO.

Sam Tellig is a nut. I think his Russian wife made him that way. I swear, if I hear one more time about his Russian wife, I'm gonna go over there and kick both of their asses, and then I'm gonna spray his head with armorall for greater clarity.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by bifcake Sam Tellig is a nut. I think his Russian wife made him that way. I swear, if I hear one more time about his Russian wife, I'm gonna go over there and kick both of their asses, and then I'm gonna spray his head with armorall for greater clarity.

ROFL!

 

[neil]

They forgot the last step -- the one where you huck the now useless CD into the garbage.

 

[bifcake]

Quote:

Originally posted by neil They forgot the last step -- the one where you huck the now useless CD into the garbage.

Is that before armorall, after armorall or instead of armorall?

 

[elnero]

Quote:

THere is no way that the difference is noticeable. NONE

There is no way which difference is not noticable? The mat or the demagnetizer or both? If your so sure on this have you tried them? If you didn't then how can you dispute my having heard a difference? If you have tried them and didn't hear a difference that's fine but it doesn't mean that someone else might not hear one. Remember there are plenty of people who can't hear differences in cables. At one time a respected audio magazine even claimed there were no differences between amplifiers that measured the same. That doesn't mean there aren't differences.

For what it's worth the stabilizer was not a subtle difference, it was like I changed sources. I tend to wonder if it wasn't my transport going south that was a major cause in the change of sound with the mat on though. The demagnatizer was a much more subtle change but we all picked it out repeatedly. I would say it was more along the lines of changing cables.

My point is, this is an audio forum and while some tweaks may sound ludicrous to even us they don't to some people and if they claim they can hear a difference then who are we to dispute this. I'm not saying that this thread should not have been started for it's amusement factor, but to so vehemently dispute what I said I have heard is downright ignorant. I personally think alot of the tweaks are quite silly. Like I said, who thought to sit down and sand their CD's? For me, most of the tweaks where I have heard a difference are not worth the time and effort for the amount of difference the do make.

One thing I've learned over the years is that everybody hears differently. I've always considered myself to have a good "ear". In fact I've been told as much by music teachers and others. I once sat down to audition a pair of Dunlavy's at a high end audio shop. The selected track had guitar in the extreme left. The sales person was going on about how you could really hear the reverb of the guitar in the extreme right. I couldn't hear it in the least. Does that mean he wasn't really hearing it just because I couldn't?

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by elnero I once sat down to audition a pair of Dunlavy's at a high end audio shop. The selected track had guitar in the extreme left. The sales person was going on about how you could really hear the reverb of the guitar in the extreme right. I couldn't hear it in the least.

Ahh did you put them on the right way?

Biggie.