SID - Sound Improvement Disc from Germany

[jls001]

highend-electronics Products: SID

SID CD and DVD mat - sound improvement disc from Germany | Tweaks | AudiogoN

Just posting for info. Don't know of this is some snakeskin oil.

 

[corElement]

lol snakeskin oil

 

[venkatcr]

These need not necessarily be snake oil.

You see, a CDP works by reflecting a laser beam off the CD. The laser beam is supposed to return a different reflection for the 0s and a different one for the 1s. This reflection is not always accurate enough or strong enough to be read correctly. A well manufactured CD will ensure the best possible reflection.

One way to test this yourself is actually quite simple and inexpensive. Take a CD of a song or few songs you know very well. Go to a shop and buy another copy of the same CD. On one of the CDs, take a permanent marker and completely blacken the label side. Now play both CDs repeatedly and see if you hear some difference in the sound. Put a few relations and friends through the same experiment. You might be surprised at the results.

Cheers

 

[arj]

in fact some CDs are tranluscent to laser !! ( maybe as some are really thin 19!) True for CDRs too.
But personally have not found any difference....there are carbon mats fibre mats also available for cdps

 

[captrajesh]

I'm amazed how people not having a clue about an issue leave alone having any experience pass judgement without even battling an eyelid.

 

[jls001]

here's another CD tweak - trim off the edge: AudioDesk CD Sound Improver [Lathe] by Wayne Donnelly

I think this one's from Sweden.

 

[stevieboy]

Joshua my CD tweak is simple. I just put them all in a cupboard and only play vinyl. I've never heard my CDs sound so silent with such a black background.

Though seriously even black CDs exist to block out reflected light or some such logic. Makes sense if you consider how CD reading works...


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off

 

[jls001]

One of these days when I have lots of time to kill and enough energy, I will try the tweak mentioned by Venkat. I think it makes sense. Will try for myself by burning a CD.

 

[manoj.p]

These need not necessarily be snake oil.

You see, a CDP works by reflecting a laser beam off the CD. The laser beam is supposed to return a different reflection for the 0s and a different one for the 1s. This reflection is not always accurate enough or strong enough to be read correctly. A well manufactured CD will ensure the best possible reflection.

One way to test this yourself is actually quite simple and inexpensive. Take a CD of a song or few songs you know very well. Go to a shop and buy another copy of the same CD. On one of the CDs, take a permanent marker and completely blacken the label side. Now play both CDs repeatedly and see if you hear some difference in the sound. Put a few relations and friends through the same experiment. You might be surprised at the results.

Cheers

I am really skeptical about this. CD's are also used in computers for storing/retrieving data. the CD drives inside the computers are more prone to vibrations because its made industrial way and these drives read data way more faster compared to drives in cd players. If the 0's and 1's are getting corrupted due to reflected light inside the drive, almost all the data on the discs will be corrupted. The computer will be the first place to reject the data as corrupted files.
If it does not affect the computer drive/disc/data, I am doubtful it will ever happen for a cd player or any other entertainment device. Want to do a real test? Get an audio cd, read the content and save to a PC. Then blacken the top side and save it again to PC. Now do a bit by bit analysis and see if you get any difference.

 

[omishra]

I don't believe this. If one knows how optical drive works then they should not believe this. Once laser beam lands into pit its gone and once it is on land then it excites sensor. Reflection, see-through... what an use of scientific words to prove this pseudo science. If this thing is so amazing then why they do not publish data/graph of improvement regarding data retrieval time, error rate and CD/DVD read throughput? Improvement in ear can be subjective and it depends upon which side of bed the listener woke in the morning. Such claims are nothing but selling snake oiled equipment.

 

[captrajesh]

Having an opinion purely based on theoretical knowledge is not a smart thing IMO. Having said that, it is ok to have an opinion but one should at least respect someone's opinion, especially who has practical knowledge; he is entitled to have his own.

IMO it is a dumb act to rubbish something purely based on theoretical knowledge.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

IMO it is a dumb act to rubbish something purely based on theoretical knowledge.

How do we categorise common sense, then?

The state of the market in hifi trinkets is such that it is sensible to approach all such things with a great deal of scepticism, unless they are free and easy to try out.

This one is around 2,000 rs. That's probably not a great gamble to someone with tens of lakhs of hifi equipment.

If anyone fancies the theory, though, a thick black marker pen, as suggested in a previous post, is a lot cheaper. I wonder, though, is that layer of marker pen translucent to laser?

Whichever... anyone who chooses to test it out should not neglect the blind test. sighted testing of this sort of rubbish, sorry, sound enhancement device is worthless. You can clearly see how my personal bias might affect the results!

 

[venkatcr]

If anyone fancies the theory, though, a thick black marker pen, as suggested in a previous post, is a lot cheaper. I wonder, though, is that layer of marker pen translucent to laser?

Actually there are a number of ways you can experiment without throwing too much money. If you have the patience, you can take a thin black cardboard, cut it in the shape of a CD and use that. Another way is to look for special material that is completely impervious to laser and use that. You would of course need a tray that is slightly deep.

Cheers

 

[captrajesh]

How do we categorise common sense, then?

I hope you agree with me that the topic in discussion would not qualify to be termed as 'common sense' which in any case, is the most uncommon thing to find amongst the general populace.

I wonder, though, is that layer of marker pen translucent to laser?

Of course yes. If a carbon paper a few microns thick can block out x-ray, the residue of pigment leftover by the marker can surely block out the 'Laser' (Light Amplification by Simulated Emission of Radiation) which is nothing but amplified waveform that is part of the same 'Electro Magnetic Radiation' spectrum with far less penetrative power than the x-rays. (theoretically speaking. )

You can clearly see how my personal bias might affect the results!

Fair enough as long as one does not try to rub his beliefs and biases on to others.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Actually there are a number of ways you can experiment without throwing too much money.

Sure! You'll even find some green ink on one or two of my oldest CDs It cost nothing!

Capt, can carbon paper block x-rays? In that case, why do x-ray dept staff wear those heavy lead things? Is Laser energy that similar?

(I ask ... I don't have a clue)

Do you really mean that I can't use the laser from one of my CD drives to burn through steel?

I do agree about common sense being a misnomer, though. Also that the intuitive and the obvious can both be actually way wrong. Thus, when applying my common sense, I do allow for the possibility of it getting re-calibrated by events

 

[captrajesh]

Capt, can carbon paper block x-rays? In that case, why do x-ray dept staff wear those heavy lead things? Is Laser energy that similar?

Posted after raking my rickety brain to retrieve the information fed into it some 30 odd years back, when I was in tenth grade Glad I'm not off mark. Here is a pictorial description of spectrum for you. Google is my friend.
https://depts.washington.edu/nwst/publish/sciscape/2006-winter/spectrum.jpg

Carbon paper is apparently used by smugglers to conceal valuables like diamonds etc from X-Ray scanners. Carbon paper merely blocks X-rays I guess but lead does absorbs them totally and saves the hospital staff from dying of x-ray overdose.

Do you really mean that I can't use the laser from one of my CD drives to burn through steel?

There are Lasers and there are some lasers.

 

[yrk1969]

It is easy to dismiss this as snake oil and I was thinking the same. However within first few results on google for "audio cd jitter" led me to this article:

CD: Jitter, Errors & Magic | Stereophile.com

Now I am from the bits and bytes industry and I have no idea on the genuineness of this article or magazine, but it seems pretty sure about its results and sounds convincing.

Especially surprising to me were these statements on page 2, and the following discussion on these:

"There are two general misconceptions about CD errors and sound quality: 1) errors are the primary source of sonic degradation; and 2) if there are no uncorrectable errors, there can be no difference in sound. "

Please read fully and make your conclusions.

 

[Hiten]

Why would a CD lens (of expensive CD player) which has expensive servo controller to focus laser on aluminium foil (of expensive CD) would focus its beam through and outside the CD is beyond me. Even dirt cheap scratched Rs. 6 CD in my computer with compressed mp3 songs plays just fine, and I also checked it with flashlight. Flashlight is hardly noticeable in this cheap CD.
Also the light shining through the CD one is talking about visible light where as CD players uses infrared. Bros, mind you we are talking only about humble audio cds. Where as world has moved on to bluerays which has whopping 25 gb of data. 25gb of data in the same space is focussed and tracked precisely so why cant a cd be read easily ?

Scratches, weak lens, focus, vibrations, jitters, error corrections. Apparently vinyls dont have such issues, just put the needle on and focus on music.

Marigo Labs Signature 3-D Mat - ?149.95 : Audio Destination, Devon's Audio Specialist Just Rs. 12,000.

Regards

 

[jls001]

"Would sir like his snake-skin oil in cast brass, please?"

highend-electronics Products: Highend Novum

 

[jls001]

highend-electronics Products: Highend Novum

This might be something similar to Frank Tchang's acoustic resonators.

Franck Tchang.com: Acoustic Resonators

I have absolutely no idea how the acoustic resonators or Indian rosewood cubes or the brass bowl from HighEnd Novum or inverted wine glass work but there are formal, mainstream reviews and they seem to be quite enamoured. So it may not be appropriate to dismiss such tweaks as audio snake skin oil unless one hears for oneself. They're a bit outside the purview and rigour of conventional science but there are many things not recognised or understood by conventional science.