CDs And Green Markers. Please Don’t Laugh.


I’m sorry. I apologize. If anything has been done to death, it’s this. And yet . . . 

I was pulling “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” out of my CD player the other day and wondering if Bruce had really made peace with his father when I noticed the edge of the disc was green. Looking through my collection, I found a bunch of them so marked. “Let It Be” by The Replacements. “Murmur.” Stuff that came out during the brief period after the introduction of the CD and before the green pen became an embarrassment. 

I should give a quick kudos to the albums that have survived countless culling that keeps my active collection at about 500 discs. Discs that are easily stored because I always take the discs and printed media out of the ridiculous plastic “jewel” cases and put them in DiscSox, an invention I can’t believe has been overlooked by the Nobel committee. 500 discs fits into five trays from Office Depot and the whole collection takes up about 16x30 inches and the height of a CD. I can’t imagine living with the original packaging. 

I never A/B’ed any of the albums with the green marking. Never looked into the science of the green pen. Back in the day, it was cheap, it was easy, and it was supposed to work. Why not try it? When it became a laughingstock, I stopped. 

But like skinny ties, I assume that green markers have come in and out of vogue many times since 1982. I love a good tweak and wonder if anyone has justified the use of the green marker. I’m not looking far a scientific explanation. Herbie’s Super Black Hole actually works but without anything close to a reason for doing so. I’d be thrilled if the same was true if green pens. 

Besides, those looking for science in audio forums should familiarize themselves with a priori reasoning, and the problems attendant upon it. 

Where have I gone? Why so much wandering? Is it because the initial question is so stupid? Still, I’d like to know: Has anything happened since, say, 1985, that would make greening the edge of CDs sensible?

If not, I promise to apologize and slink quietly back into the darkness.

paul6001

Showing 8 responses by tweak1

First I went to the Disc Sox www. What a poorly designed site. Line drawings do not convey what the product actually looks like. A YouTube video would be nice Which product did you buy?

As to greening, a vastly superior way of maximizing every CD comes from Machina Dynamica, called New Dark Matter. Do it once for every CD you play. It looks like thin dark mica. It comes a package of 10 squares + 10 double sided squares that you cut to fit inside your tray. I covered 2 slide out trays with it. Alas, I now have a Audiolab 6000 CDT that I don’t know whether it can be placed in. The cover would have to be removed...

New Dark Matter NDM, the newest product from Machina Dynamica, is the only audio product that absorbs both visible scattered laser light and invisible scattered light in CD players, thereby improving optical signal to noise ratio, thus improving sound quality. The CD laser nominal wavelength is 780 nm, which is about 80 nm longer than the longest visible red wavelength, 700 nm. The laser is not monochromatic but has an effective wavelength range of around 650-850 nm. This means most of the laser light, and scattered light, is INVISIBLE. The portion of the laser light below 700 nm is visible red, presumably as a safety feature.

The scattering of the laser light occurs when the laser beam strikes the physical nanoscale data on the CD. Then, scattered light reflects off surfaces inside the CD transport container, lighting up the interior like a Christmas tree. The Green Pen and other similar audiophile products (including our own Codename Turquoise tray treatment) affect the sound because they absorb scattered visible RED light. But most of the scattered light - around 75% - is INVISIBLE and not amenable to absorption by ANY color, including green, turquoise, or even black.

HTH

 

@buddyboy1 

 

You are correct regarding the non smooth surface, but as I mentioned all RXs oxidize eventually. The issue then is laser scatter. New Dark Matter is by far the best answer once the disc has been properly cleaned

@aldnorab

 

Interesting. Sounds like you are an ideal candidate to try Machina Dynamica New Dark Matter. I wrote about it the other day

Also I wash all new cds with a DROP of organic soap and distilled/RO water in a dish barely covering the cd before playing. Do a before and after Ill bet you hear the improvement. Also, Ive tried a bunch of so-called treatments. Over time they oxidize and cloud the disc. This causes the music to sound dull. Wash them off!

@mrskeptic 

 

The so called science has to do with the laser hitting the pits and bouncing throughout the disc under the label. Greening the edge mostly contained it. I found and tried many treatments. The best IMO is New Dark Matter, which is thin dark mica looking squares that the user cuts to fit the tray. Comes with double sided adhesive to secure to the tray.

 

hth

@cdc  Just scrolled down and saw your post. Yes it is time consuming and messy, but well worth the time and effort

I should add I also have a German CD Edge Cutter. First heard it at a Chicago audio show at least a decade ago. My biz partner brought his cd radio, so we had them cut a disc of which we had a copy and played it in our room. Amazing, even played on a $30 CRAP BOX

I remember the green marker days, as previously mentioned, I have the German Edge cutter machine, which is gathering dust (make me a reasonable offer) Machina Dynamica has been in the taming scattered laser light game for decades. His latest and GREATEST product is called NEW DARK MATTER. It looks like Mica, is applied to the tray under the CD and absorbs/neutralizes all? scattered laser light inside the mechanism, which is the reason for greening.

Don’t think twice: do it