Shine-Ola and Novus CD treatment


Thanks to Albert Porter generously sending a sample of Shine-Ola and ROR, I am writing my findings.
BACKGROUND:
I found an identical CD at the library sounded worse than the new one I had bought. The new CD sounded louder, had more detail and dynamics. There was also a little more digital hash which was not good. There weren’t a lot of scratches on the library CD and have decided it is at least partially a reflective issue.
A laser reads a CD based on the reflectivity. This is different between CDR’s and CDRW’s for example. CD treatments which can improve reflectivity could help readability.
PLASTIC POLISHES:
I have tried various auto and plastic polishes and ,ost recently Mapleshade’s “Mikro-smooth CD polishing kit”. The theory is to improve the surface finish of the “cheap piece of plastic” CD. However all of them put microfine scratches into the CD. I did not find any of them to improve sound quality. But they are good for polishing out scratches which would make the CD skip.
REFLECTIVE ENHANCEMENTS:
(My guess as to what these treatments are suppsoed to do).
Products like Rain-X which have petroluem in them may not be safe for plastics CD’s so I don’t use them.
Auric Illuminator, Shine-Ola and Novus. Auric Illuminator looks like some kind of waxy material. Shine-Ola is a clear watery liquid. Novus contains vegetable cleaners and silicone and is said to reduce static, stop fogging, and puts on a “lustrous shine”. Albert has preferred the Shine-Ola over the Novus and I did a lot of listening over 5 days because I liked the Novus better.
The Shine-Ola gives more clarity and maybe less smoothing out than the Auric Illuminator. But the differences are vanishingly small and very hard for me to detect. The best way I found to test was to limit critical listening to 5-10 minutes. After that ear fatigue and fatigue between the ear/brain connection sets in and I was not as sure about what the differences were. Shine-Ola must be doing something even if not audible because it fixed a minor skipping problem on one CD.
I used track 3 of Jamiroquai’s “A Funk Odyssey”. I first put Novus on the new CD and Shine-Ola on the library CD. The Novus was crisper on vocal atacks and sibilants were more drawn out and a little less harsh. I have a dual deck Marantz CDR-500 and can switch between discs pretty quick. It did not matter which tray the CD was in.
Used Albert’s ROR CD cleaner to remove the treatments, I put the Sahine-Ola on the new CD and the Novus on the library CD. They now sounded about the same and maybe it was my bias but I still thought the Novus was crisper. Obviously the library CD was not in perfect condition but was almost new.
CONCLUSION:
The differences were vey small and I would not fault anyone if their results were different. This could be equipment dependent as well. But my conclusion is that any coating on a CD reduces dynamics and possibly clarity. I used my finger once in putting the Shine-Ola on the CD and had sort of a plasticy feeling on my finger.
Since Novus is a liquid I would not expect it to last as long as Shine-Ola or Aquric Illuminator. Reducing static and “hot spots” may also be a benefit of it being more a liquid than a coating or wax.
cdc
Novus contains petroleum products, which are harmful to polycarbonates, which CD's are made of. The petroleum also adds error rate, which is audible.

Shine-Ola contains nothing that would leave a film on the CD, so error rate isn't an issue. Along with being film free, Shine-Ola also doesn't contain any polymer products; so the plasticy feeling that you felt was perhaps the residue from another cleaner that either contained a polymer, or petroleum. Or, it could be the feeling of the mold release compound being held within the fluid, prior to it being wiped off.

The fact that Shine-Ola fixed the skip in an otherwise unplayable CD supports that it does what it was designed to; clean CD's, DVD's and SACD's without leaving any residue, nor film which adds to the error rate of the CD. This said, I will add that it has been used by several audiophile labels on their CD and SACD masters. Fidelis Records is one of these labels, which you will be hearing much about in the future, if you already haven't heard of them and their exceptional recordings. Elusive Disc is their distributor, they have info at their web-site if interested.

I hope that this clears up some of the mentioned issues.

Kind regards,
Brian Weitzel
Record Research Labs
No Silicone products are used either. It is film free. We've found that products that create a film, (such as petroleum based (oil) products, silicone based, and polymer based), actually increase the error rate of the media. Within the digital domain, we audiophiles should strive for zero error rate.

This product is designed to remove the films used within the production, without leaving a film, yet is completely safe for polycarbonates. Should you have any other questions, feel free to contact me direct.

Best wishes,
Brian Weitzel
Record Research Labs
recres@msn.com
Hi Brianw. I don't know who told you Novus #1 has petroluem products. I called Novus before using and they told me it contains silicon and vegetable cleaners. I spoke with Novus again after seeing your post and was told silicon and isopropyl alcohol. But definitely NO petroleum products.
I put some Shine-Ola directly on my fingers and rubbed it until dry and I still get a rubbery / sticky residue so it must leave something behind. Which is not necessariyl a bad thing.
I agree about leaving a film behind on CD's which does seem to reduce resolution. A really effective cleaner is made by International Products Corp called Micro. It is quite powerful yet safe for plastics. IPC has tested Micro at 100% cencentration on a stressed polycarbonate sample (bent around a post). After 24 hours there was slight crazing.
But 60 second exposure at the recommended 2%concentration is totally safe. Micro has no petroleum or silicon in it.
But from my listening, Micro does not improve sound or detail resolution. The Novus does.
Any suggestions on suitable music to demo these types of improvements?
I see. There is a big difference between vegetable cleaners and solvents such as IPA. It was a Chemist that owns a PCB oil testing lab that had mentioned that Novus contained petroleum products. I guess I could ask him for further information if required, but I don't think that it is. Another issue, the manufacturer would be crazy to describe their formula entirely to anyone over the phone, which may answer why you recieved 2 different stories?

As far as music, for sonic comparisons, I use second generation master copies that my brother Paul, co-owner of Fidelis Records provides to me. The original copy goes to Sony to be produced into SACD/CD hybrids. I also have promo SACD copies of 3 of his releases. This offers me a fair analogy of what is really happening, since I've sat in on most of his recordings. I tend to like violin, piano, sax, and trumpet recordings for listening, not in any particular order. Jazz is my favorite, actually. There are many great jazz recordings out there!

I hope this helps.

Brian

Played ZZ Top: one treated with Novus, the other with Shine-Ola. My girlfriend liked the Shine-Ola better (played this disc second). By the 4th switch couldn't tell them apart.
Cdc, How long do these treatments last, and on the same note, what about the use of say, one of those Bedini units with or w/o the above mentioned ?
Rx8man, the Shine-Ola looks to be fairly permanent but the Novus may not be because of the Silicon oil and other stuff in it. This could evaporate or rub off over time.
Also I am concerned about long term effect of Novus on CD's. Could be after a while the oils could attract dirt am reduce sound quality.
I would not wast any money on the Bedini although this may not be a popular opinion. Just go with an anti-static treatment like Endust etc. www.mapleshaderecords.com has an iconoclast something or other you may look into.
My girlfriend thought the Novus was clearer but the Shine-Ola was louder. Don't know why "louder" is better than "clearer".