ServinginEcuador
Founder of the Head-Fi Pay-to-Post Program.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2002
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Well, after trying out the SkipDoctor I ordered I ahve come to a couple of conclusions. First, it does NOT take a disc that skips from scratches and make it work. I specifically paid good money for this unit to revitalize some non-working discs I really wanted back in working order. No go. The manual says that you can just keep going over the same area back and forth instead of the whole disc if you have a really bad spot. This didn't work either. Even after repeatedly going over the same area about 15 times. The scratch in question is one that is not radial, but goes along the data rings, so this may explain why it can't be removed. The second thing, this unit is very good at removing scratches that may affect audio quality in ways other than skipping. Dirty, scratched discs tend to rely on error correction too much, and this affects the sound. After using the SkipDoctor and Walker Audio Vivid CD/DVD Enhancer the discs can sound more transparent and have a better soundstage, and a less harsh sound. (More on the Vivid Enhancer later.
)
Here's a pair of photos of the same disc (but not the one mentioned above, just a really scratched up one):
BEFORE TREATMENT
AFTER TREATMENT
This second photo was taken after I had also treated the disc with some Walker Audio Vivid CD/DVD Enhancer, so the much shinier appearance is due to that. The SkipDoctor removed a lot of the scratches from the disc, while the Enhancer is used to give the disc a MUCH more transparent shot at the data underneath the plastic of the CD.
Here's a pair of photos of the same disc (but not the one mentioned above, just a really scratched up one):
BEFORE TREATMENT
AFTER TREATMENT
This second photo was taken after I had also treated the disc with some Walker Audio Vivid CD/DVD Enhancer, so the much shinier appearance is due to that. The SkipDoctor removed a lot of the scratches from the disc, while the Enhancer is used to give the disc a MUCH more transparent shot at the data underneath the plastic of the CD.