Does coloring the edges of CD's help the sonics?

this issue has just been beat to death..it's not one to be settled with argumentation and/or preaching....you have to do your own empirical test ....listen and then let your ears decide. If you want some honest although anecdotal data just go to Tweak Audio. And by the way some CD treatments actually do improve the sound of a standard CD when compared to a similar untreated CD. Also (no relation to the dealer) try MaxxHORN CD Treatment. It's the best I have heard and it seems to have an additive effect if you use it with Mapleshade CD treatment regimen. All in all the treatment of CD's is best done with a glass of wine, beer or whatever.....it's a pain in the but...however sometimes it really works. By the way have fun painting and treating those little silver CDs because anyway you sketch it your significant other is bound to think your nuts!

Have fun!

Charlie

An audiophile sits in his basement day after day, carefully coloring the edges of his entire CD collection with a dark green olive marker.

One day his wife comes down, "What you doin' that for - does it sound better?" she asks.

"Nah, sound has nothing to do with it. Olive on the edge - that's all!"

Good one, Shadorne!

I'll tell ya what does make a difference: trueing the runout of CDs via an Audiodesk lathe. I had a dealer do this to several of my CDs while auditioning some gear a couple of years ago with my wife; we did A/B (before and after) listening and in every case there was an improvement in clarity and depth. My wife confirmed and she is a huge audio skeptic with WAF at a constant "11"

One of these days I'm gonna break down and get one.

I'll tell ya what does make a difference: trueing the runout of CDs via an Audiodesk lathe.

There may be an explanation for this - power to adjust the laser tracking will be sinusoidal/periodic if the CD wobbles and the laser is constantly readjusting - to keep tracking.

If the power supply ioslation to the DAC is less than robust/adequate then this signal may affect jitter. Ed Meitner demonstrated years ago - that if you blasted a CD player with a speaker that you can get the CD's to resonate at around 1000 HZ - which then created feedback and jitter into the clock. Random jitter is ok - but precise periodic jitter of specific nature is MUCH more likely to become audible.

On the other hand - if you place your CD player inside a cabinet with a closed door and protect it from high frequencies then you should not have too much cause to worry about what Ed Meitner discovered.

The wobbly disc is another matter - as equipment designers can and should deal with this issue as laser readjustments will be periodic and related to disc rotation speed - in essence something that would be expected to happen. A DAC completely separated from the transport with a decent PLL algorithm that reduces jitter may help and the good news is that it will probably fix everything - whereas I have my doubts whether a lathe can be precise enough - those CD tracks are awful narrow...