Why did it take so long

Nothing to do with luck.  CD tweaks are minimally effective.  Reclockers make a huge difference.  The measurements prove it.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Really? How did you measure the Silver Rainbow Foil? The Green Pen? Demagnetizer? Just curious.

You are not just curious, you want to disprove everything I say here.  I'll respond anyway:

I have the same disk here with and without treatments, including most of these tweaks, but even more important, I have the same disk with the rubberized coating and without. The one that makes the biggest difference. I can easily hear the difference and measure the difference.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Steve, have you experimented with putting the SM device between a streamer ( with s built in DAC) and an external DAC? If so, what was the result?

Yes, the Sonos is such a device and widely used.  See these plots:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154310.0

Steve N.

Empirical Audio