If you have a CD Player, you need to do this periodically...

pguezze-just curious, did you demagnetize your electronic’s or CD’s with the Radio Shack Bulk Tape Eraser?

Originally bought for CD, I now use it on cables and records. Of course it doesn't really demagnetize CDs or LPs, maybe it is something to do with static electricity I don't know. The effect on CD fades out a lot over about 15 minutes. With LP this is just about right for a side. 

I don't use on electronics because of the way transformers work, if you get very close to one it induces current, you can easily hear the hum. It does the same on all wires of course but transformers have lots of windings, so I avoid them. Tubes have another problem in that the alternating magnetic fields can cause the filaments inside to vibrate, you can hear it. So I avoid them. 

Another factor is the Radio Shack unit is designed for intermittent use. It gets hot and has a thermal shutdown. After some trial and error I figured out what to do and how much and how often to sort of optimize the whole thing. Some might say this is a lot of work for a pretty small payoff. They'd be right. For them. But not for me.

itsnotjustyou- Let me explain. No amount of techno-jargon can change the fact you derided a tweak that works. Not that I don't have some sympathy, you are trapped in a false paradigm. Here's the thing: it is not on me to explain why anything works. It is only on me to listen and evaluate. That's it.

Therefore, if you can't hear it, no problem. Simply admit you cannot hear it and move on. Perfectly fine course of action. We all know listening is a skill, which like all skills some are better at it than others. Also means it can be developed according to time and effort put into it. I am on record for once being unable to hear any difference between DACs, among other things. Long time ago, put the time and effort in, quite good these days. But it is learned it does take effort and no shame admitting you are not there yet.

It sounds like a dig and a put down but think about it, in reality I am offering you a lifeline. You don't have to spend your life digging around in a dark rabbit hole of techno jargon. You can come out into the light and listen to music. If you like what you hear, great. Do more of that. If you don't, sorry. Do less of that.

Anyone can understand. Of course this means setting aside all those big words you worked so hard to learn. You will find it impossible to lord it over any skilled listener with technobabble. Simply does not work. You will find it hard to develop these skills. Few things worth doing ever come easy. In the end you may gain the unequaled satisfaction of being able to do something and readily hear the difference.

Or go on with your check sums and bits and whatnot.

Your call. Choose wisely

Merry Christmas!

Itsnotjustyou, an awful lot of audiophiles also don't know CD is not digital. Anyways, not on me to explain how or why something works, just that it does in fact make a difference I can hear. The rest is on you.

There's a number of good tracks on that disc. I burned the two demagnetizing tracks onto a CD one after the other repeating several times so they can easily be played and demagnetize during warmup. The effect is not huge, but definitely is there.

Other good tracks- walk around the room clavis resolving the room, when your system is dialed in it is uncanny how you can hear him walking around especially behind you. In phase/out of phase, when dialed in the out of phase is downright freaky, absolutely cannot tell where the sound is coming from! 

This CD helped me learn to identify the differences between DACs and tubes and ss, by listening to the various music tracks and paying attention to their recording notes. Prior to doing this I noticed differences but never made the connection why. 

Demagnetization was at first hard for me to hear. I would play these every once in a while, sort of thinking maybe better but never really sure. Problem is once you do it,  you can go AB but there is no BA, you have to wait a while for things to go back. 

What I wound up doing instead is run it every night no matter what. After a while this becomes your new standard. Once you get used to it, if you then don't use it a while then when the system goes back to grunge you notice! So now it is a regular thing, couple times a week, always before any long session I want to be real good.

The greed CD pens actually work, by the way.

Derisive comments serve only to burnish reputation among those who find it easier to dismiss out of hand than do the work of finding out for themselves. Credit and props to those who do put a little more effort into doing audio than expounding on that which they do not know.

I've been demagnetizing for years. Since the 90's, when you could buy the Radio Shack Bulk Tape Eraser for $20. Then much more expensive (but no better) options came along. Still use it on a regular basis.

Demagnetizers work by creating a strong magnetic field that being AC oscillates flipping directions. Held close and then slowly moved away allows the fields to slowly randomize and become demagnetized.

The XLO Test CD has demagnetizing tracks I use several times a week. Even though most of what is in the signal path is non-magnetic still there are impurities and regions that are.

The way magnetism works, a strong magnetic field can orient metals along field lines. If the magnetic field is strong enough to align and then quickly removed it magnetizes the metal by leaving them in alignment with the magnetic field. These small islands of magnetism distort the music signal. This is pretty much what all music is, powerful dynamic transients that come and go. Over time these islands of magnetism build up.

The idea is playing a tone that slowly fades out is analogous to using a hand held demagnetizer. Another track sweeps from low to high frequency, accomplishing the same trick but across a wider frequency range. The XLO disk has both a steady tone that fades and a sweep tone.