Anyone use CD tweaks

Interesting, I also do the sanding, black hole treatment to my cds ,just prior to a demag.

Just run your finger around the edge of a cd and you'll feel a lot of ridges and irregularities.

I was given a demo of the Geman disc cutting machine for cd's and got hooked on trying to do the same at home without the machine.

It works for me.

Those ridges theoretically would influence the spin of the discs in a cd player and perhaps are a source of jitter.

Now all you need to do is try to demag your cd's and lp's.

I should add that I only demag the lps ,cds and dvds.

All other parts of the system are not, but share the benefits.

Char1 - love it!

I enjoyed reading all the comments from all the previous posts and I would like to add the following few remarks. After many long discussions with Ric Schultz (aka Mr. Tweak Audio) I have arrived at a very crazy formula. If your OCD istry the following combo tweaks. First sand the edges of you cd inside and out. Then use Pierre Spreys mikro smooth creme on the cd's surface and then finish the job with Rob Spences Blue MAxx cd cleaner. Then use a cheap permanent marker to blacken both the outside and inside cd edges. Finally take a hair dryer use the cool setting and blast the cd for about 45 seconds (about 12 inches away) you can move it closer and further away while you "blow dry" your cd (actually this technique works better than any the above tweaks) and then place your cd in your transport and be prepared for a wonderful improvement. BTW all of the tweaks I have mentioned DO have some HMMMmmmm pretty "good science" to back up their effects. Keep in mind that all of these twaeks are a pain in the ass. Finally, because of my formal training as a "scientist" I did do a group test on Blue Maxx cd cleaner against optrix and the findings using a six people who had had approximately three glasses of great Zindindel was that the subjects thought that both Optrix and Blue MAxx cleaner were somewhat better than just plain inserting the cd into the palyer drawer. Hey have fun and don't try these tweaks with out professioal supervison.

Best char

I use a Hammond bulk tape eraser and demag all my cd, dvds.

I also run my CD player on it's own 20 amp dedicated line,into a Hydra 2 and I use a Shunyata Annaconda Helix power cord.

The sound is much better this way , it rivals my lp set up.

The cd player is an Audio Aero Capitole 24/192.

I'm only digital, and only CD's, so I thought maybe it was time to treat the discs since I had pretty much tweaked everything else in my rig. I can tell you, flat out, that the Mikrosmooth / Optrix spray combo from Mapleshade is crazy good -- better air, clarity, staging, freq extension, everything. It was like a good cable upgrade. IOW, significant. And I am definitely a pessimist when it comes to this kind of stuff. I even considered contributing a testimonial to Mapleshade, but I suppose I just did...

30 day MBG. Easily worth the $40 + shipping IMO.

mikro/optrix

The color of marker that's most effective depends on the color of the CD label artwork. For example, Mercury Living Presence CDs (labels are Black and White) prefer Red marker on the outer edge and black on the inner edge. Most CDs prefer Green or Purple (Violet) on the outer edge and Black on the inner edge.

Opaque blue marker pen twice around the outside and the inside hole of the CD.

Yea. Give Herbie's Black Hole CD mat a try. It is meant be adhered to a disc permanently. It stabilizes the rapidly spinning disk in the drawer and damps the inherent resonance within the disc as it is being played. The music is more coherent across the frequency spectrum. I bought two 200 mat lots of these little beauties. Highly recommended!

The CD mat from Herbie's Audio Lab works great but sometimes gets stuck in the drawer mechanism, which is why i stopped using it. That, and it looses its ability to stay stuck after several uses and needs to be cleaned as a result. I believe its no longer available and has been replaced with a permanent stick on.
It really cleaned up the sound.

One of my favs is three 1 inch strips of black plastic tape on the label side arranged like spokes of a wheel.

BlueMaxx cd cleaner is worth trying out, as well as Audiodesk

I have used various products and potions as well as mats. My best and FREE tweak is all I do now. Wash the cd with a little (very little) liquid soap and rinse well with water. I work the soap in with my fingers and rinse. Dry with a cheap paper towel so there is no lint. I have an R.O. system and I use the water from there, I don't know if it would matter though. It is an easily noticable difference. Clearer music across the board like a haze has been removed.

Pledge AntiStatic works great for CDs. The non-aerosol one that's safe for electronics. Far cheaper than any audiophile brand, and far better than anything I've used. For about $5, if it doesn't work as well, you can still use it for other stuff.

Spray a little on the disc, wipe it with a microfiber cloth, then buff with a dry microfiber cloth.

The last time I looked the Radio Shack Bulk Tape Eraser had been discontinued. That was some time ago. Fortunately, eBay is a good resource for the item.

The best cleaner/polish I've found is L'Art du Son ... that is until a friend came up with his own formula. He won't sell it, nor will he tell me what's in it. Also, if you go to Radio Shack and buy the VCR tape eraser for $30.00 it beats just about any demag devise out there. Don't buy the regular cassette tape eraser, buy the large VCR eraser. With a good demag and the L'Art du Son cleaner, the CDs become much more analog like.

Hands down, the best CD tweak I have found is to power the CD player with true AC regenerated power with the AC frequency set to ~90hz. This pretty much negates all other CD tweaks IME. I use a Walker Audio precision AC motor controller which bested a PS Audio PP600. The Walker unit employs both input and output isolation transformers therefore completely isolating the CD player electrically
and since it provides ultra pure rock solid AC, the CD players performance improves dramatically.

The key here is to ONLY power the CD player with the regenerated power and use balanced(prefered) or unbalanced AC power for powering the rest of the system.

Cheers

is to power the CD player with true AC regenerated power with the AC frequency set to ~90hz. Pretty much negates all other CD tweaks IME. I use a Walker Audio precision AC motor controller which bested a PS Audio PP600. The Walker unit employs both input and output isolation transformers therefore completely isolating the CD player electrically
and since it provides ultra pure rock solid AC, the CD players performance improves dramatically.

The key here is to ONLY power the CD player with the regenerated power and use balanced(prefered) or unbalanced AC power for powering the rest of the system.

Cheers

L'Art du Son fluid has a dramatic effect on CD's. Richer, fuller sound, lest digital sounding.

Neal

i use furniture foam, about 4 inches thick under a cd player/transport and dac. the cd player is a vincent cd s6 and the dac is ess technology sabre 32 evaluation board.

David99: "Not sure if Herbie offers a return policy,but Im very sure anyone that tries it wont be returning it."

Now let's see, where did I keep that receipt.....

I spray on L'Art du Son CD/DVD Cleaner. Seems to work as advertised: more organic sound - removes etchiness.

You should try $5 copper tweak here. It changes my whole system from musical and warm to a Hi-fi one. Not in a good way, not in a bad way, it just does. Now, I slide it back and forth from time to time when I want my music sounds diff.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1237170946

I just bought some Dynamat and put it on all open metal inside the case of my player. I also put it on the transport where it wasn't in the way of anything. What a difference it made.It absorbs the vibration on the transport. The bottom end is more musical, the mids and highs are even more transparent than before. I am telling you it is the best $25.00 I have ever spent. I will now put my Denon 1940CI up against any player under a grand.It really is that good. Can't wait for a opamp and better dac.and the transport is silent now.No noise when it opens or closes.

I used to have a bottle of Finyl and it worked wonders. I wonder if something similar is available today?

I also have a CD mat (blacklight?) but I am just getting too lazy to use it. I have to soak it under light so that that it glows in green .... ah .. jus too much work.

Update regarding weights on top of CD players and Amp/Preamps....not good, kills dynamics and limits transparency. I still use brass heavyfeet under CD player but not umder my amp/preamp. Mapleshade CD enhancement products work well to reduce digititis and add a bit more warmth and rosin to the music.

ditto with the disc damper but I use the Marigo Reference and yes it does make a difference. I also just started to use Ultrabit and for sure it does make an almost jaw dropping difference. It is a bit expensive ($65/bottle) direct from Manufacturer or $80-$85 from Music Direct but you can hear the difference the first time out. Also my CD sits atop Bright Star's Air Mass and Big Rock, again a "tweak" that makes a VERY POSITIVE difference, wouldn't ever be without them!

I have just received a John Blue CD mat, which sits on top of the cd, without any preconceived expectations I noticed a signifant improvement, music sounds more distinguised, more detail, voices and wind instruments sound more natural. Overal the music sounds quieter (less background noise) and the music is more coherent, also less sibilance. Slightly better separation, it is as good as an expesive component upgrade in some regards and better because it eliminates the digital harshness of cds. Currently I am listening to Enya Watermark and am thoroughly enjoying the music, first impressions; the sound is more analogue, and more detailed in an unobstrusive way. It cost me US$40.00, and the material is very light, about 3 grams, so it should not affect the motor. I like it so much that I see it as essential to cd player use. Note the cd player sits on thick marble and I use small mahogany pucks, that only touch on the rubber part of my feet, not the aluminium, since that is the only way it is effective in my system.

I was wondering if anyone was up on wether or not Shine-Ola is harmful to polycarbonate? I was told I needed to know this before using it with my cd player. I don't know what polycarbonate is but I know there are people here with a lot of knowledge on this great site. Thanks!

I've been using the Marigo 3-D Stabilizer Mat (which is essentially a semi-rigid disc). I had used their original disc and am now using the newer design. They both work well also.

I use Pledge Anti-Static to clean my CDs. My results are pretty much what others have said regarding other cleaning/shining products. Very effective and cheap. A bottle cost me about $3 or so, and I've cleaned about 200 or so CDs with less than half the bottle.

Its the spray version (not aerosol) advertised to use with electronics.

2chnlben,the Herbie CD mat is so light it wont have a negative effect on the RPM's,and it works the way you describe.
Tvad, my mat didnt work on my friends 3910 either.
The Herbie CD mat was the winner of a 'best cd tweak' in a thread from long ago.
Most,if not all that owned one said it works better than any cd tweak and does what it is described to do to improve the sound of cd's and sacd's
When I bought mine I think its was 20 bucks shipped.It may be up to $24 now.
Not sure if Herbie offers a return policy,but Im very sure anyone that tries it wont be returning it.
Herbie offers a lifetime warranty I do know. Even if your dog dines on it for lunch.
As I said before,Im surprised no one has mentioned this mat except me.

I use Shinola, not sure I'd qualify it as a tweak though. It's simply a cleaner that IMO does a good job.

CD Mats?? What...placed on top of the CD? What about the additional weight of the mat...could it have any negative affect on the transport/drive mechanisms (i.e. ability to spin at proper speeds/RPMs)?? I assume the intension is to reduce jitter as well as laser diffraction???

Im surprised no ones mentioned Herbies CD mat.
No doubt this mat makes CD's sound less digital.
The biggest improvement I've found is how the mat brings out female vocals to a 'in your room' realism.

And just think Tvad, it's in response to your response. You're the man!

I'm game. I actually found that I have some AQ "Laserguide", which is primarily a silicone base...I can't hear a darn bit of difference...Ha! I like the idea of adding some weight on the player - it's immediate; don't have to wait for a mail order! Part of this compulsion, mine anyway, is no patience - gotta have it now. What the hey, it’s good clean fun isn't it! While I’m pretty darn good at discerning wood types via my visual sense, I’m fairly confident that I do not poses the ability to do so via my sense of hearing. This is good, because a hunk of Hickory is much more affordable than Black Bubinga or Burl Ives – or is that Burled Walnut? Really, though, I might look for a nice brass door stop – huh!! I’m serious – I started this thread. I’m going to place a nice looking brass ornament on top of some sexy hunk of hard wood (on top of my CD player, of course). I look forward to my wife’s witty little remarks.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1051384332&openmine&zzBuscis2&4&5#Buscis2

Enjoy.........

Tig: Music Direct sells Shinola, around 25 bucks for a bottle that lasts quite a while. I don't have strong opinions about its effects. John

The best tweak I use which makes the biggest impact is to DEMAG the CD..I use the Furutech RD-2(no longer made) but you can find them used on A'gon....OR Music Direct sells the new version from Acoustic Revive called the RD-3.
Really cleans up the lower mid upper bass problems,Makes mids/vocals more focused,and shimmers the highs.
I stopped using the pens and the waxes.
If I come across a CD/DVD that skips I use the Auric Illumintor stuff on it which works.

Myrtle wood blocks underneath CDP, with a weight on top for vibration, and Auric Illuminator on the discs all add subtle changes for the better. I put a thick maple cutting board under my turntable, with myrtle wood blocks under each piece, and the difference was more than subtle.

So what is this Shine-Ola? Is it a liquidand cloth as if cleaning the cd? Where do you buy it and how much is it? Thanks

A set of Mapleshade Triplepoint Heavyfeet and a 1/4lb of weight from their Heavyhat lineup will transform your player...CD tweaks are subtle but not an order of magnitude.