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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: CD's&felt pens/Auric IIluminator posted by smuttner on August 14, 2003 at 21:39:02:
I've never quite understood the theory behind using the color green. I believe the goal of marking CD edges is to minimize light pollution inside the transport. Anything that allows your player to read the bits correctly the first time will help the player to perform optimally. In that spirit, I have had good luck using a black marker, but not all discs benefit as much as others, and not all players benefit as much as others. It's not fun work, either, and you need to make sure any ink you use is well dried before using the disc - you don't want evaporating solvents to collect on your laser lens.Surface treatments seem to have a greater effect than edge treatments. Everybody has their favorite one, and as far as I can tell, they all have a similar, positive effect. Something to keep in mind about surface treatments is that you obviously can't see the bits on the disc with your naked eye, right? That means you also can't see something on the disc surface that's big enough to interfere with a bit being read with your naked eye, either. The least expensive surface treatment for CDs is a simple wash - all commercial CDs ship with a bit (no pun intended) of manufacturing residue on them. It's always a good idea to wash any new CD. The next step up is anti-static treatments. Not everyone believes the small amount of static charge that a CD can hold affects a player, however, if nothing else, reducing the static charge will reduce the amount of dust that may otherwise cling to the CD. Pieces of dust could certainly make it harder for your player to read the bits properly on the first pass. The next step up is more expensive surface treatments such as Auric. I'm not sure what these do other than clean and remove static charge, but they do seem to make an audible difference in my system. I've had good luck using less expensive surface treatments such as car polish and Rain-X. Car finish detailing sprays often have anti-static properties and are a good follow up to any car polish you may use. Do make sure anythng you plan to use is safe for plastics.
One note about Rain-X - if you happen to slip while using a marker on the edges of a CD, Rain-X will remove the errant marks. Having Rain-X on hand makes using a marker on your favorite CD a little less uncomfortable.
The bottom line is edge marking and surface treatments seem to work for most people. They won't turn a turd of a recording into a rose, but they do remove some of the distortion that is often described as 'digital' sounding. My recommendation is to try the cheap treatments for free (laundry marker and a bottle of Rain-X). If you hear the effects of these treatments and like them, you may decide it's worth money to try one or more of the commercial products.
There's an addditional treatment that, in my experience, works better than edge marking and surface treatments combined on some CDs: edge beveling via an Audio Desk tool. This tool is a CD lathe, and it simply cuts a small amount of material off the edge of the CD, leaving a beveled edge. The idea behind the beveled edge is similar to the theory of edge marking, but I belive the biggest benefit is that the lathe makes your CDs closer to round, which puts them more in balance when spinning inside your transport. This is also why some CDs benefit big time from this treatment while others hardly benefit at all. Your transport will also matter, since some transports deal with poorly balanced CDs must better than others. The CD Audio Desk is not cheap, but I have yet to hear from someone who's regretted buying one. I will likely own one some day....
-Pete
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Follow Ups
- In general, CD treatments work, but YMMV - pburant 05:14:04 08/15/03 (1)
- Thanks! (NT)a - E 07:43:29 08/15/03 (0)
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