I have a bunch of pure natural cork bottle stoppers 🍾 that can be sliced to make shims for isolating printed circuit boards, damping banks of capacitors, damping fuse holder, etc. PM me with address and I’ll send a few free of charge. Cork is a natural damper. It breathes.
Herbie’s Super Black Hole CD Mat - Wow!
I just received the Herbie’s Audio Lab Super Black Hole CD mat in mail. It’s a little black disc that fits atop a CD which has silicon on one side (the side that touches the CD) and carbon fiber on the top. I’ve only listened to a few songs (electronic genre) and my first impression was simply “Wow!” I’m hearing so much further into the recording. I’m hearing the ambience much better. Notes have more texture. Imaging seems to have improved. On one track, there is a sound that is panned to the right and repeats three times. I thought it was identical on each note, but with the CD mat it’s easy to hear that on the second note, it actually moves 6 inches towards the center of the soundstage and then back out to the right. It’s always fun to rediscover your music when you find a tweak you enjoy.
From their website, this is how they say it works:
“By reducing micro-vibration in the CD spin during playback, laser-reading error is potentially reduced. (Error correction in audio CD discs is not perfect; it is algorithm-based "guessing," not binary like in data CDs). By damping the disc/clamp interface, micro-vibrations generated by spinning discs are hindered, keeping them from permeating throughout the player where capacitors, op-amps, micro-processors, and other sensitive parts can be adversely affected.”
I can’t confirm whether or not that’s the whole story to how it works, but I’m convinced it does something amazing. I will report back after I listen to some more music of other genres.
From their website, this is how they say it works:
“By reducing micro-vibration in the CD spin during playback, laser-reading error is potentially reduced. (Error correction in audio CD discs is not perfect; it is algorithm-based "guessing," not binary like in data CDs). By damping the disc/clamp interface, micro-vibrations generated by spinning discs are hindered, keeping them from permeating throughout the player where capacitors, op-amps, micro-processors, and other sensitive parts can be adversely affected.”
I can’t confirm whether or not that’s the whole story to how it works, but I’m convinced it does something amazing. I will report back after I listen to some more music of other genres.
Showing 28 responses by geoffkait
Whoa, Daddy! Didn’t see that before! The Mother lode! https://positive-feedback.com/Issue37/belt.htm https://positive-feedback.com/Issue36/belt2.htm |
I’d opine suspending cables and power cords is better than lifting them because suspending them kills two birds with one stone - Static electric field and seismic vibration. That was also the idea behind Enid Lumley’s Cable Tunnels of yore. At CES 97 Mapleshade and I suspended all cables and cords with a thread and a rubber band. Hey, that could be the title of a song! It’s also a good idea to hose down the carpet with industrial strength anti- static spray every once in while. Better safe than sorry. |
Greening the CD only affects about 25% of the scattered light, I’m afraid. The visible red portion. As I’ve mentioned, oh, about a hundred times, the scattered laser light is primarily invisible. Colors do not affect invisible light. Black doesn’t either. I did not invent reality. More uh, stringent methods are required to get rid of the other 75%. Evil laughter! 🤡 |
There is almost zero increased rotational mass with those teeny tiny doughnut style dampers like Black Hole and fo.Q CD Stabilizer since all the mass, such as it is, is located at the very center of the spinning CD. My Mystery Tweak, by contrast, which extends from the spindle hole outward to near the outer edge has extremely low mass so it doesn’t affect rotational dynamics, is much stiffer than those itty bitty doughnuts. That way the CD laser beam doesn’t go crazy trying to stay in the nano scale data spiral whilst the CD is flopping around in there. |
As it turns out CYAN (turquoise) is the complementary color of red. So, cyan absorbs red light. The Green Pen and some other devices including your humble narrator’s Codename Turquoise tray masking kit, absorbed stray CD laser light that was visible RED in color. And this was generally audible. However, things are not necessarily what they seem here. The CD laser light nominal wavelength is actually 780 nm, which is in the invisible near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The reason the CD laser appears RED to the naked eye is by design - as a safety feature 🚨. The laser beam is not monochromatic so the wavelength of the lower portion of the laser bandwidth is between around 650 nm to 700 nm, I,e., RED. But most of the laser bandwidth is above 700 nm. Let’s say from 700 - 850 nm, for purposes of argument. So it is invisible. That means only 25% or so of the scattered light is affected (absorbed) by the color CYAN, and the Green Pen and Codename Turquoise. Therefore most (75%) of the scattered light is still potentially able to get into the photodetector. And no color, not even BLACK can absorb invisible infrared light. So, one might imagine how much better the sound might be if ALL of the scattered light could be absorbed. The laser wavelength of Blu Ray is violet 405 nm. extra: joke - Richard Feynman was pulled over by police for speeding. The cop asked him, do you know how fast you were going? Feynman replied, I’m uncertain. |
Mr. Eels, I realize you think you know something about this subject but you don’t. First of all, as I just got through saying, NDM is not a CD mat or any such thing. The scattered light levels inside the CD transport can be quite high, up to 100% of the direct reflected signal. Think of it like you would a lightbulb in a small room. The bulb illuminates the whole room. You do realize light travels at the speed of light, right? Even if the scattered light is only 75% of the direct signal amplitude it will still be detected by the photo detector as real signal. Therein lies the problem. Scattered light is not something I made up. I did not invent reality. |
NDM is not a CD mat. NDM is a set of 10 ultra thin adhesive plastic squares that are placed on the top surface of the CD tray and the surface of the Mini CD tray, if there is one. I estimate total thickness of NDM to be no more than 1/32”. There is plenty of space between the CD and NDM whilst the CD is playing. This arrangement places the NDM right where all the action is for optimum effectiveness. NDM absorbs all (rpt all) light whether visible red, blue, violet, whatever or invisible infrared or ultraviolet. 🤗 |
I’m more than a little skeptical regarding the claim that a CD tweak like SID or any other audio product eliminates scattered laser light and I’m going to tell you why. It is because the scattered laser light is mostly invisible light which is not (rpt not) amenable to absorption by ANY color. The nominal wavelength of the CD laser if 780 nm, which is in the infrared part of the spectrum. Having said that green or turquoise will help somewhat with the red portion of the scattered laser light, which is present in the lower part of the laser beam spectrum. The CD laser in not monochromatic so there’s some RED 🚨 in the laser light. My product New Dark Matter is the only (repeat only) audiophile product absorbs all forms of light, from Blu Ray to DVD to SACD to CD, including infrared. Pop quiz: free NDM to the winner! What color absorbs scattered Blu Ray light? |
Even more important than the interface between the CD and the CD transport is the CD itself which, for at least two reasons, tends to flutter and wobble and vibrate whilst spinning. The CD laser tracking servo system cannot keep up with the severity of the tracking problem, what with the nanoscale dimensions of the laser beam and the data spiral. In order to stabilize the disc from wobble and flutter more severe measures are required. I am currently experimenting with fo.Q CD Stabilizers, a small black doughnut-shaped damper 🍩 that adheres to the CD label side. My Mystery Tweak involves damping the CD itself, completely stabilizing it. Question, does the Black Hole go on the label side or the data side of the CD? From the quoted description it sounds like the Black Hole should go on the data side (down side). “By damping the disc/clamp interface, micro-vibrations generated by spinning discs are hindered, keeping them from permeating throughout the player where capacitors, op-amps, micro-processors, and other sensitive parts can be adversely affected.” |