CD Tweak Test (Was: CDP Tweak or scam?)

Very Interesting

On my main system (Adcom GFA 545, GFP 555 II, Vandersteen 2C's, and Marantz CD 5001), I was only able to try the soft rubber mat. The rigid Marigo mat would not allow the drawer to close. There was a perceptible difference in sound quality with the rubber mat on all CD's, most significantly with the bass. It seemed more defined and a bit tighter. Where I found the most improvement was with burned CD's, the improvement was tremendous :yes:.

I was able to try both mats in my bedroom system (Denon DCD-620, Yamaha CR-640 and New Advents), as the Denon's drawer was deep enough to allow the Marigo mat. Head to head there was slightly better tonal quality to the Marigo mat, but both were better in improving bass, with the Marigo mat's impact reaching up into the lower midrange.

The most interesting thing that I found was that the impact of either mat seemed to be inversely proportional to the quality of the CD. On burned and very old CD's the improvement was significant. As the quality of the CD improved, the impact of the mats declined. On my MFSL copy of Spirit's The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus there was no perceivable difference with either mat on the Denon and none with the Marantz CD5001 :scratch2:.

Overall, I doubt that I would spend the money for the Marigo mat. The soft rubber mat is something I will definitely look to find at a reasonable price, as I would use it every time I play a burned or older CD.
 
highfigh said:
The gushing reviews amaze me. It's digital information. How can it do this? "Voices and instruments transformed from flat, mono-dimensional presentations to rounded sonic images that bore a far greater resemblance to the real thing. You could feel the presence of the drum, the roundness of the strings, and the different layers of undertones and overtones that comprise the human voice..."

The data is buffered, parity bits are included for error correction and I don't buy it. If the disc is so bad that the error correction has to work overtime, fine but generally, this is the kind of think I hate about the audio industry.
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Very easy answer... It doesn't.
 
Mr. Lin said:
It's really not at all far-fetched. The basic theory is that micro-vibrations end up causing distortion in other components of the circuit, like capacitors, op-amps, etc. These mats are supposed to dampen those vibrations. For those who claim this doesn't make sense because it's just digital information, vibrations or "jitter" pollute the signal by creating timing variations that result in a smearing of the musical reproduction. A lot of the technology in higher end CD players is meant to eliminate jitter, so one of these mats contributing to that effort makes sense.
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It's tough to pollute ones and zeros and CD/DVD players are bit accurate. If there is anything at issue, it would be the analog amplification side of a player, NOT the digital side and these mats have ZERO effect. Save you money and put it in better loudspeakers.
 
Urizen said:
Was this your conclusion after trying a cd mat or other cd tweak? Please enlighten us with your actual experience, which is the purpose of this forum.
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Yes... Nor did I find any difference with the green edge CD thing when that was all the rage. And people swore by that too, espounding all sorts of sonic virtues.

I hate to tell you how many interconnects I brought home to test. Yes, my dealer always told me how wonderful they sounded. Some sold for several hundred dollars. Cardas and Esoteric were among the brands. Yes, they were beautifully build, but not a single one sounded any different (or better) from my Monster cables that I have been using for years.

But no doubt, some people hear a difference. Good for them...
 
The mats have been located. Any other subscribers who wish to try out the discs please post here and PM your address to me.

Thanks!

Ken
 
been some talk of these on a uk hifi forum some while back ... some very credible regular posters have said its very good? ... i have not used or auditioned one yet
 
Urizen said:
Mr. Lin, you're welcome to get on the list. I'd like to hear your listening impressions.
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I'm ready now, if you could put me on the list. I'm going to start using my Herbie's CD mat more so I'll be able to compare the two, should I hear any difference using the mats that are going around.

Cogito said:
It's tough to pollute ones and zeros and CD/DVD players are bit accurate. If there is anything at issue, it would be the analog amplification side of a player, NOT the digital side and these mats have ZERO effect. Save you money and put it in better loudspeakers.
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If they're a "bit accurate" that would mean they're not 100% accurate. You really think there's some conspiracy behind the concept of jitter degrading the sound of a CD player? Your black and white statements would suggest that.
 
Hype? Really?

Augy said:
I found this interesting article which tests some of the theorised tweaks discussed here and elsewhere on this site http://www.stereophile.com/reference/590jitter/

A very interesting read
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Did you read the conclusion? Perhaps a couple of the things he tried did not work the way the manufacturers claimed, but according to Harvey, they did work:

"From my measurements, it is apparent that none of these CD tweaks have any effect on a player's error-correction ability or on the amount of jitter in the HF signal. However, it is beyond doubt that they increase the musicality of CDs. Just as in analog audio, there are things going on in digital audio that have not been identified, but influence sonic characteristics. There is a real need to explore these questions through empirical measurement and by listening. I am convinced that undiscovered optical phenomena in CD playback affect sound quality. Only by combining critical listening with the scientific method can these mysteries be solved. "
 
Mr. Lin said:
For those who claim this doesn't make sense because it's just digital information, vibrations or "jitter" pollute the signal by creating timing variations that result in a smearing of the musical reproduction.
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Not trying to flame you, but jitter only slows down the entire bus (the data transport from lens to the digital to analog chip (DA). Its is still more than fast enough to deliver all the data "just in time". First In First Out-Buffers are used, and determine the actual speed of the disk. There is no constant speed, it varies depending on how full the buffer is. There is more than enough time to reread the data a couple of times.

Jitter does not affect the ones and zeros coming into the DA chip, they are still ON/OFF.

Sounding: Its in the analog sections. Only then can any type of "sounding" happen, and this is why different digital stuff sounds different.

Argument: We can use this forum, all characters are correct, and all members see the same posts. Think about how much wire and pc-busses are between us all. We do have differences in the quality of what we see on our screen! Some have better colors or deeper contrast. But again, thats not the digital part. Its in the analog. Light and little tft mirrors, but not the digital data.


Cross Interleaved Reed-Solomon-Code is implemented in cds, which means damages up to 3500 Bit (about 1.4 mm scratch!!!) are FULLY RECONSTRUCTED.

The cheapest possible player with digital out will be BITIDENTICAL to any other transport system.

Because there is no sound in that area! Its more like morse code with a light. To "hear" the message, someone has to actually speak. That is where the difference in the sound comes from. Every "message reader" or in our case DA chip has its own "voice", in our case lets say frequency response and signal to noise distance.


So op's product link will only wear out the motor and the bearing faster, and cannot do anything else.
 
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Urizen said:
Not trying to flame you either. Have you ever tried one of these discs?
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I have tried this in 4 other flavors. Not this exact model, no. But there cannot be a difference. It is absolutely impossible.

I hope that general marketing schemes will keep on breaking away through the use of internet and forums like these, and that realism and blind tests pave the way for the hifi equipment of tomorrow.

By the speed of your response I clearly see you didn't take the time to read my response. There are things that work. This is not one of them. Do those magnets around the fuel line work? No.

edit: Ok my wording is getting emotional, I think I will refrain from posting in this thread.
 
If these are still available to try, I'd like to do so. At present I do not particularly enjoy listening to my CDs and I would like to change that. I don't have much of a CDP, but it would be interesting to see if these discs improve its sound.
 
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