borderdog Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Is anybody treating or cleaning their CD's before they rip them? I know there are some benefits when you play them through a CDP, but would it help to treat before ripping? Some of the products out there are very inexpensive and they sure couldn't hurt. Just wondering. Aaron Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 I'm not dong anything special to my discs. I can see this possibly helping cut down on rip times if multi-read / error correction has trouble reading a disc without the cleaning. I'd love to know if someone has done some serious testing with this stuff. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Grado Equinox RS-2 Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hi to all of you. you all need to try UltraBit Platinum™ Digital Systems & Solutions George S. Louis, CEO 1573 Kimberly Woods Drive El Cajon, CA 92020-7261 Phone: 619-401-9876 http:www.ultrabitplatinum.com/ read the review on his site by Robert Harley of (the absolute sound) and the white paper. he offers a money-back guaranty that includes shipping both ways plus $5 just for trying it. and yes! i think its that GOOD!!! and then some. use it before you RIP and on CD-Rs before you burn it. Link to comment
Innertuber Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 I don't use anything unless the CD looks really dirty in which case I use my shirt. Call me cheap! Link to comment
TimH Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 With my CDs (and DVDs for that matter) I just look at them for debris and if it looks like it might help, I use one of those little velvet sort of cloths that come with a monitor or TV screen these days to wipe them off, using a motion from the inside out on the disc, not circular (I heard somewhere that you're not supposed to "go with the grain"). Other than that, I make sure I have error correction on when I rip. Shirt is good too, 'Tuber. Do you have a particular fabric or thread count for optimum noise-to-signal reduction? TheOtherTim Link to comment
g0rf Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 I use EAC in secure mode with Accurate rip. If a rip is flagged as no errors, and high confidence, then there CAN BE NO BENEFIT from any treatment whatsoever. In fact, I have had a couple of CDs recently unable to rip perfectly because of small scratches, so I treated them (to some funiture polish), and they worked just fine “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato[br] Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hi g0rf - I think we are all on the same page about not being able to get a "more perfect" rip. if a rip is perfect then it's perfect. The possible benefit could come into play in situations like you suggested, where there are scratches etc... Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
g0rf Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Yes, I guess so. I would only contemplate this sort of thing after a bad rip. And my solution works really well anyway “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato[br] Link to comment
Innertuber Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Well, after a lot of testing I think I can conclude with at least a 95% confidence level that a shirt with beer stains works better than one with fresh blue cheese dressing and Hooter wing grease. I'm also pretty sure that after the 3rd pitcher of brew, the fabric doesn't much matter anymore and you'll probably forget you either a) did b) wanted to clean the CD in the first place. After a fourth pitcher you will probably begin training for the CD Frisbee toss. Ziiiiiiiiingggggggggg! Link to comment
georgelouis Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 The Bits are bits is one thing but jitter is something else again. Unless you try ripping a CD to a hard drive with and without UBP you'll never now for sure what the difference if any sounds like. Be sure to double-blind test the results. None so deaf as those who will not hear and in the Land of the deaf the one eared man or women is king or queen. George S. Louis, CEO Digital Systems & Solutions Link to comment
TimH Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 'Tuber, thanks for the test report. I might just have to take it a step further and do some A/B testing of domestic versus imported beer stains. TheOtherTim Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 you guys really make this fun, seriously. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
georgelouis Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Bits may be bits but what about jitter? George S. Louis Link to comment
g0rf Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Are you for real GSL? What has jitter got to do with a secure rip? I can't wait for the day hard drive, or better still solid state drive completely replaces optical disc, and then foo products such as this will dissapear. Unless you want to try making a hard drive platter cleaner from whatever random ingredients you come up with. “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato[br] Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hi guys - I pride myself on keeping this forum enjoyable and a notch or two above the other forums in terms of the collegial atmosphere. We all benefit from the honest opinions but this conversation is very close to becoming a typical pissing match that takes all the fun out of our wonderful hobby. Thanks again for the honest opinions. Please make certain not to take it a step further into the sophomoric world of forum pissing matches :-) Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
darrenwm Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hi, If my disc was literally filthy I would probably wash it in a sink of soapy water and carefully dry it with a cloth. If it was just a little dusty I may wipe it with whatever I am wearing - shirt or t shirt. Link to comment
Innertuber Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Okay here's what I really do ........ I have a little empty bottle of Dawn dish soap I fill it with a 50/50 mixture of: isopropyl alcohol (get the 99.9 pure stuff, you can order it from Walgreens pharmacy for about 3.50 per bottle.) distilled water To that I added a drop of non foaming detergent I use that to clean vinyl all my vinyl and any CD's that are messy. For vinyl that has mold or is really rough I use a little steamer you can order online again from Walgreens for about 30 - 35 bucks. I don't have to bring out that piece of heavy artillery often, but some of my records were stored for years and years and we're in the mildew capital of North America - Florida. I use plain ole dish soap and a sponge on the jewel cases I find at garage sales to remove the crud. Link to comment
borderdog Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 Sorry I opened such a can of worms. I am getting ready to start ripping all my cd's to a hard drive and I wanted opinions before I started the process. My question about treating cd's was based more on my ignorance of the ripping process. My total ripping experience, to date, has been putting audio book cd's into my wife's iPod. Sound quality not being an issue. I have read a number of papers on the subject of how a cd is read and how imperfect the surface of a cd really is. Cleaning and treating a cd for use in a CDP does make technical sense to me, but I have never tried it. I take the previous statement back; I have used the beer-stained shirt method before. I am skeptical of most audio tweaks, but I think I will try this one. It is very inexpensive and my cd's need cleaning anyways. I think it will be fun to see what results I get. Worst case scenario- I'm out a few dollars and have some cleaner cd's. This is what I propose to do: 1a) I will rip a few untreated cd's and time each rip. 1b) I will treat those same cd's, rip them again and time each rip. This should confirm whether or not treatment affects error correction. I'll use a small mix of regular labels like BMG, Columbia,Elektra, etc. and some audiophile labels like Chesky and Mapleshade 2a) Listen to untreated rip vs. treated rip through my stereo system. I don't consider myself a "golden ear", but my system is very resolving. 3a) Pop an untreated cd into my CDP(Naim CD5x) and listen. 3b) Treat that cd and listen again. As far as I'm concerned, there is no right or wrong in this, because I just don't have an opinion-yet. I will give you guys my results, if you are interested. Aaron H Link to comment
g0rf Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 It is possible that properly cleaning a CD will benefit playback in your CD player. But. For ripping, if you are using the right software. EAC on the PC, dont know about Mac, then you can guarantee a 'bit-perfect' rip. Again a cleaner CD may rip quicker, but if the software reports a good rip, then comparing the 2 rips is pointless. Do a file compare, they will be identical, so any comparison will a waste of time. “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato[br] Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hey Aaron - I think you are right on. There is no right or wrong on this. If someone hears a difference then that's cook with me and if they don't that is also cool with me. Whether the difference is based on empirical data or it's just in their head is really uninteresting to me. As long as someone says - here is what I did and here is the outcome, we all benefit. We are all smart enough to pick and chose what we want to believe. As long as we are on this topic: Do you guys remember when one of Eminem's albums was released with so-called bullet proof copy protection. All it took to defeat the copy protection was a magic marker. Coloring the edge of the CD worked wonders on that high-dollar encryption scheme. I would never have guessed something this simple would work so well. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
machinehead Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 dude, that is hilarious! \"It would be a mistake to demonize any particular philosophy. To do so forces people into entrenched positions and encourages the adoption of unhelpful defensive reactions, thus missing the opportunity for constructive dialog\"[br] - Martin Colloms - stereophile.com Link to comment
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