Wash, Cut, Polish & Demagnetize


As I sat and read through the most recent threads on the "Agon" forum, I noticed a thread regarding "Glossary of Audio Myths". I noticed several comments regarding "greening" and demagnetizing CDs.

Without delving too deeply into the effects of laser light diffraction, deflection, dispersion and reflecting light from adjacent tracks creating "jitter", and to avoid reduntantly examining the fact that the aluminum "wafer" in a CD is not always just aluminum, but in many cases aluminum "alloy", I would like to attempt to dispel a few of these "myths".

Many CD manufacturing facilities use a coating of mold release agents on the manufacturing machinery and on the plastic substrate material in the actual CD to facilitate ease of handling throughout the manufacturing process. Somewhat similar to spraying a cooking pan with "PAM" to reduce sticking. The residual amounts remaining on the CD upon completion of manufacturing should be removed as it will cause minor deflection and loss of focus of the laser beam. Specialty chemicals are available specifically for this purpose. I wash the CDs thoroughly using Dawn dishwashing liquid and very warm water. I cannot confirm that this process is as effective as using the specialty chemicals, but it leaves the CD surface extremely clean and seemingly free from any "oily" feel.

I then cut the edge of the CD using an Audiodesk CD cutter. This process reduces the amount of laser scatter from exiting through the outer edge of the CD and flooding the inside of the CD transport with reflected laser light. By cutting a bevel on the edge of the CD, you actually reduce the edge surface area by which the diffracted laser light can disperse. Some may feel that this a bit excessive, but we must keep in mind that the results of these treatments are cumulative.

The next process involves applying CD "Green" to the beveled edge. The properties of the color value of the Green used in the majority of these coatings tend to absorb any stray laser light. I still, to this day, have not been able to figure out why Green is the color of choice although, I have been told that it is simply the values of each of these colors (Red laser light and Green) that work together in unison to "neutralize" the light. The initial washing of the CD also helps to enhance the adhesion of the green coatings.

Upon allowing the CD green to dry, I then apply CD diamond using 100% cotton balls, and polish using again, cotton balls. CD diamond is an optical enhancer similar to Optrix,
Vivid, etc. and also contains a anti-static component. Most of these "optical enhancers" work by simply filling in microscopic pores in the CD surface permitting a more direct transmission of the laser beam through the plastic substrate material to the actual CD surface.

The last step involves demagnetizing the CD using a Furutech RD-2 CD demagnetizer. CDs, contrary to what most people believe can and will become magnetized. The results are a less black background, a general "haze" and loss of detail. If Cds were made using pure aluminum with NO trace elements, this step might not be required.

The results of all this? Pretty damn amazing. Again, recognizing that the results of all of these steps are cumulative, when all is said and done, the improvement is quite significant. Although these steps may sound somewhat time consuming, each CD actually only takes about three minutes to complete.

I hope I have provided some insight as to "dispelling" some of these myths. I can, and will, stand by this process as time and time again these enhancements have made CDs a lot more listenable. And, I have dropped the jaws of many non-believers after they have heard the actual results.

Any comments regarding this process are welcome. Happy listening.


128x128buscis2
A very old thread with lots of ideas. Here are some that I didn't see.

No light goes through the disc. It all gets reflected, but the pits in the disc are 1/4 wavelength deep so that the light reflected from the bottom is 180 degrees out of phase with the light from the top surface, so there is interference, which looks like no light.

In a digital error correction system, the data stream includes redundant information so that the original data can be recovered without any error, provided that the transmitted data stream error rate does not exceed that which was anticipated in design of the encoding algorithms.
As I have mentioned before, modern digital transmission systems use error correction encoding so that they can be run at far higher bandwidth that that which would be necessary if error-free transmission were needed. The higher bandwidth more than makes up for the redundant data.

I never clean or otherwise process CDs. Except for one disc that was defective when purchased, I have never had a disc that failed to play, on several players and DVDs.
I have used cleaners, many....I have the Herbie audio mat - the best that I have tried, and tried several...I have then cryo'd my cd collection, a great tweak, highly recommended....then purchased an audiodesk....The improvement is well worth the investment. It is NOT subtle. You will press play and in seconds...you will hear an obvious improvement in soundstage openness, depth, its quieter and cleaner, smoother.. more resolution. Well worth it.
many people are confused about using this so called green pen .1ST. go to any hardware store or hobbyshop buy a paint pen use any color you like. It is not the laser light that is reflected off the cd. It is the wieght of the paint on the outer edge I have been doing this for over 20 yrs. anther way of helping also is putting another Disc. on top of another, using both labels facing each other another 20 yr.Project I have been doing this but is getting more difficult with newer cd players will not leave room in the trays,but Rotel cd players work fine for this inexpensive way to get a better sound....

A great way to make your cd to sound great is to go to Radio Shack and buy a hand held demagnitizer it great I bought mine years ago it wouks better than some of those expensive units cost is around $30.00 I do this with cd"s and dvd"s also......I agree with other people it lower the noise floor and takes the edge away and music bocomes more real
Noticeable upgrade can be had by reburning the cd on a computer on a good CDR like Taiyo yuden, or Mitsui gold (more expensive - $1 a piece).

Use EAC program to reap the material into computer, and then use foobar program to resample - to make it sound better, and use window media player to burn - adjust it to burn slowely as possible.

All the programs can be had for free - just google it.

Plextor CDR drives are the best sounding ones.

The difference is very noticeable - it almost sounds like sacd - smoother like analogue. If you have a program that resamples to 96/24, like the program that comes with Creative Zen MP3 player, you really tame that digital nastiness.

The resampler in the foobar is pretty good too - if you tweak it right.

Does anyone know of a program that resamples music files to 192/24 or higher? What is the best resampling program these days?

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Also you can fix non playing CDs with a touch of brasso and water (sold at a hardware store).