How come there is no thread on the RealityCheck?

Tbg,
I burned 5 CDs on George's black discs prior to modifying the unit. My comments refer to these 5 CDs and to the CDs I've made with my modified unit.

Exlibris, can you tell us more of your modified unit? Louis reported he has a customer who has added a linear supply and is exploring its benefits. Is the customer you? I have done nothing due to Christmas, CES coming up, and final exams.

Tbg,
Yes, that is me. The modified unit has an outboard power supply (transformer-based) and a second power supply installed in the unit itself. The original switch-mode power supply has been removed. This allows one to disconnected or remove the fan as well. The modification can be done so that the AC cord goes in the RC or in the new outboard unit.

I sent three original CDs and the copies I made of each using my modified RC, to another member of the Audiogon community. I've invited him to post his honest responses, good or bad, to this thread.

I often compare:
1. the orignal CD
to
2. the RC copy
to
3. the modified RC copy

Sometimes I like number 1, sometimes I like number 3.

George has introduced a new product RealDisc™. Waiting time between treatment steps has been reduced to 1-minute from 5-minutes.

There have been many posts concerning Real Disk on Audioasylum General, with many finding there to be further improvement. I have ordered some, but note it is not a total replacement for ClearDisc.

ClearDisc is now used to clean off previous applications of ClearBit on the origianl CD. RealDisc is far superior to ClearDisc. ClearBit is now used on the rims of the origial CD, and the surfaces of the CD-R, but not the rims. Confusing? Not really.

Tbg, you are in for a real treat when you get your RealDisc.

Steve

Splaskin, from all indications you are correct. Apparently there are still instances where you use ClearDisk. It sounds like you use RealDisc to clean off old ClearBit on originals. I assume that you then reburn copies on which you do not use ReadDisc. Correct?

The ClearDisc cleans off the old ClearBit. The RealDisc is applied to the original CD and ClearBit on the rims of the original CD.

The CD-R is treated with RealDisc on the surfaces and rims; ClearBit on the surfaces only.

It Works!!!!

Splaskin, this is what George Louis emailed to me. "RealDisc™ doesn't eliminate or replace the
need for ClearDisc™ except for treating purposed when a disc isn't inordinately contaminated with dust and fingerprints." I think you are saying the same thing. When I get RealDisc, I think I will need to use ClearDisc to remove ClearBit on the originals that I have copied and then apply RealDisc to both flat sides.

New uncopied originals need only be cleaned with RealDisc and then have ClearBit applied to the rims.

The blank CDRs then are cleaned only with RealDisc followed by ClearBit. I assume that I need to make all new CDRs.

The best threads on the RealityCheck procedure still are on the General Audioasylum.

Tbg- Guess you didn't make it to CES. Anthony said you never called him.

Did you see the mention of George's products in Stereotimes.com's(CP) CES coverage?

Kana813, I did make CES, but I thought my reservations were at 6:40 in the morning going out and they were at 6:40 pm. Everything was upset.

Counting the number of posts here in the last month regarding realitychoke (which is 0 incidentally), it stands to reason that the best discussion is elsewhere. Conclusion: no one is interested.

It is curious how different Audiogon and AudioAsylum threads are. I concede that there is no interest HERE. The nudniks seem influential here.

Here's a question--any idea what George Louis is apologizing for over on Audio Asylum General?

He apparently chooses not to say more, but it is his post. Perhaps Clark or Bill will tell us more.

Tvad, yes I saw it. Unless the IO Shop unit is far superior to my Mac duplicating a cd, however, Mr. Louis must be doing something further to the unit.

Tbg, why does it have to be far superior? Why can't it just equal the performance of the machine Mr. Louis sells?

There are questions about whether there is value added by Reality Check, I have no idea what other questions you have in mind in your last sentence.

Mr Louis is a very poor advocate for his product.

I have just burned 10 more cds and will probably do more this weekend. Would you have me destroy my unit? Or say that I am wrong about its benefits? If so, you are out of luck.

Clearly someone need a reality check.

Who me or you or someone else?

Tvad, I agree these are all unanswered questions. I also wonder when, if ever, anyone will know the answers.

Tvad, I do value the duplicator, but I do wonder if RealityCheck added something of further value. I also don't know the answer to this either.

Memorex manufactures black CD-Rs with a suggested retail price of $24.99 for a pack of 50.

Tvad-

Mahalo for all the info.

Do you have a link to the IO shop?

I also wonder if an external burner with a separate power supply would produce similar results.

Just started reading this thread and thought I would point out that Arnie Nudell told us about the sonic benefits of duplicating on to black CDRs back in 2002 or there abouts. Here is a link to his company http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/ go to the download page and click on the "black CD saga" paper. I've been making black CD copies for years - makes a big difference on my system. This may be old news to many of you but thought I would toss this into the mix.

Here's the link noted at Audio Asylum.

http://www.iopshop.com/cdr/product.pl?productid=19104

This thread is a fascinating example of the psychology of audiophile marketing. As audiophiles we're always looking for ways to improve the performance of our systems and our enjoyment of listening to music. I have no doubt that carefully cleaning combined with using top flight media and high quality burners will improve the sound of regular stamped CDs. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are all too willing to cloak the process in mumbo-jumbo and charge high prices for what are effectively off the shelf products. As a group we need to be vigilant and ask tough questions from any manufacturer who makes bold performance claims without detailed technical, mainstream science explanations.

Bravo Tvad, you da MAN. Thanks

Tvad and Onhwy61, as I have said I tried using RC and other cd-rs some black and all thoroughly cleaned burned on my MAC. I have directly compared them with copies made on the RealityCheck unit. The latter were clearly better. Previously, I had made cd-r copies on computers and always found some minor improvements. In fact I made several RC copies of discs I had copied on my computer after they would no longer play on my cd player as they were too scratched. These RC copies were strikingly superior to the computer copies.

As I have also said, it does seem to be the case that Mr. Louis merely found a superior way to copy with great sonic benefit and sold his off the shelf products at a great mark-up. The results are quite good but the cost is too high.

If the cost of the Reality check ($795.00) is to high, what are we audiophiles to make of the Nespa? ($900.00) for a box with a light bulb in it that heats the disc to release trapped gases in the disc which results in sound improvement???? I'm all for improving my home Hi-Fi but $900.00 for a light bulb is_________ (fill in the blank)

Actually, Sbayne, it was an engineer at Genesis, not Arnie. It also stressed that cd-rs vary greatly in sound quality and how long they last or lasted in those days.

Right, is was a Gary Leonard Koh. Want to give credit where credit is due. Yes, he talks a lot about different brands of Black CDs but also types of drives, brand of drives, external drives, recording at 1X, recording software, etc. Just wanted to point people to this if they are looking for more info and didn't know about this article that has been on the web for years.

Powder, reviews across the board have been raves on the Nespa. Latest is in HiFi+ Both the RealityCheck at $575 and the Nespa at $895 are minor in comparison with other components that I use and what I have in my software.

Maybe folks would be interested in doing a little reading here.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/422620.html

This is sort of Wizard of Oz like...."Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

This is a strange hobby.

Now that it's been discovered where George gets his CD duplicator and black CDRs from, all that's left are his sources for the ingredents in RealDisc,ClearBit and the
the manufacturer of his MicroTex cloth.

Kana813, you are right. Mr. Louis gets his basic chassis from the same source the iopshop.com gets theirs. In fact he is now selling the same base unit for $215. But this is only the beginning. As he says, “But for sure, at this time there aren't any assembled duplicators sold online with even one Plextor DVD-RW drive let alone two Plextor DVD-RW drives each with their own 8MB memory buffers.” I know some may dispute this, but he does make the following offer. “If someone wants to compare an online duplicator to the RealityCheckCD Audiophile Grade Duplicator RCCD-AG 2.2™ they should buy one and make their copy and then send me their original disc and I'll make them a copy on my duplicator and return both for free and then they and their audiophile cohorts may compare theirs and mine until their ears fall off or at least until they hear what a true RealityCheckCD is all about.”

As to why I am posting this, I asked Mr. Louis why he did not himself post this. His answer is”I don't want to divulge my proprietary information and I know that the skeptics won't be satisfied until I do and probably not even then. All bad things must eventually come to an end and I prefer to wait it out. But I can assure you that I don't buy the RCCD component parts from any of the online sites that seem to have garnered everyone attention. You may also note that none of those online sites make any claims regarding the fidelity of music CD-Rs they produce.” He is probably right about the critics, but with his offer above anyone with an open mind can try for themselves.

The supermediastore duplicator is also $445 nearly twice what you said the RealityCheck could be replaced with. Your claims are still open to debate.

In the interest of getting this resolved, I am willing to contribute $10 toward the purchase of a "community" duplicator. We would then need only about 20 more people to purchase one from George Louis, a few more people to buy the $229 unit from Ioshop. Alternatively, we could purchase a Plextor duplicator (see the site Tvad provided) for $445. Clearly we would need more people (and/or bigger contributions) to do that. In any case, we could take nominations as to who would get the unit first, and those who contributed could vote. The person chosen would have to agree to scientifically (i.e. control other variables) compare a CD-R made on this "generic" unit with one made on a Reality Check unit. We could even pass these CDs around, so that everyone could hear the diffence. Or even have several pairs made for comparison purposes. Just some thoughts on a slow day at work.