Three diff CD Cleaners - To bring out Magic from silver discs

[CKKeung]

CD is on a steady downhill course, may have even been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic too.
However I personally don't think that it will become extinct, at least not so soon.

I myself am listening to mostly silver discs during the recent 2 years.
I find CAS very difficult to fight with my MSB Select Transport-DAC combo.

For those WBF brothers who are still listening to silver discs, my friend Betta Tam and I have found good disc cleaners for you :



The Zanden OCD-1 is on the left and the Furutech PC-Alpha is on the right. Both are made in Japan.

The middle one is a LED screen cleaner made in Mainland China.
I bought it dirt-cheap at a computer mall in Hong Kong.
It has been highly praised on audiophile forums in Mainland China.

 

[CKKeung]

They are NOT snake-oils.

Take this 2CD+1DVD set as example :




I guess most classical music lovers must have owned the set.
Both the recorded music and documentary video are gems!

However the sonic quality of these DG discs are only barely OK.
The soundstage is narrow and the depth shallow.
The orchestral section images are muffled and the strings cool and non-musical.

I can confidently tell you that after using the cleaners, there are quantum leaps in all sonic aspects!
The recording becomes much much more enjoyable.


IMO CD cleaners are musts for those old school audiophiles like me.

Last but least, my audiophile friends who have home theatre systems claimed that the video quality of DVD and Blu-ray discs is significantly improved too.

My highest recommendation!

 

[CKKeung]

Now, let's come to the controversial part :
All 3 cleaners give sonic improvement but their sonic characters are different!


Believe me or not :
The Zanden and Furutech smooth the sound and make them more musical.
The cheap screen cleaner improves hifi factors such as resolution, freq extensions and dynamics more than the other two.

After much experimentation, I found using BOTH the Zanden and the cheap screen cleaner would give the best of both worlds.

BTW if I tell you that the sequence of application will affect the sound, will you think that I am insane?


My preference is to use the Zanden first, then the screen cleaner.
Haha

The Zanden and Furutech are not expensive whereas the screen cleaner is dirt cheap.
Please buy and try them yourselves.

 

[Sablon Audio]

I recall this product being quite decent also

 

[CKKeung]

I recall this product being quite decent also

View attachment 71434

Yes, Nanotec in Japan makes several similar products :

https://www.nanotec-systems.jp/audiocable.php#audio

Their prices are similar to the Zanden and Furutech cleaners.

However when I said that the sreen cleaner made in Mainland China was dirt-cheap, I really mean it.



I bought it at US$4 in a computer mall in Hong Kong!
Unbelievable!

 

[BruceD]

They are NOT snake-oils.
I can confidently tell you that after using the cleaners, there are quantum leaps in all sonic aspects!
The recording becomes much much more enjoyable.


IMO CD cleaners are musts for those old school audiophiles like me.

Ah Yes!-another "old schoolie" here--also tried many(read a dozen or more?) CD cleaners /buffers/polishers

( even fell for the infamous ArmourAll)

Have not tried /used any of the ones you mention above --I'm sure they all would be excellent.

My own preferences narrowed down to the two items below I currently use and found to give the most sonic benefit --to me anyway.

Like you good self I'll add highly recommended to folks to try these as well.

Good Listening

BruceD

 

[2ndLiner]

Hi CK! I tried to find the Zander Optical Disc Cleaner on the internet for purchase but was unsuccessful. Do you have a link where it can be bought?
Thanks and hope you are doing well!

 

[CKKeung]

Hi CK! I tried to find the Zander Optical Disc Cleaner on the internet for purchase but was unsuccessful. Do you have a link where it can be bought?
Thanks and hope you are doing well!

The Zanden OCD-1 has just been launched for maybe 2 months.
Not yet mentioned on their website/facebook.

I bought it via the Zanden dealer Audioexotics in Hong Kong.
Pls contact your local Zanden dealer or Audioexotics directly.

 

[CKKeung]

For the cheap blue colour LED screen cleaning fluid, it may not be available outside Mainland China or Hong Kong.

However I guess the Philips screening cleansing fluid is an oem of it.
They look very very similar :




It's available on eBay :

Philips Screen Cleaner SVC1116G 609585197565 | eBay

This reusable microfiber cloth may be washed gently in soap and water, then air dryed. You may use it over and over again. Enjoy a spotless screen with this streak-free cleaning fluid, specially formulated not to leave any kind of residue on your screen.

www.ebay.com

 

[2ndLiner]

Great, thank you, CK!

 

[Phillyb]

I clean my LP's and I clean and polish my CD's and they both make a big difference. LP's detail comes forth and an even top to bottom reproduction. CD comes to life, everything improves to such a point of LP vs. CD to be a non-starter, it gets back to whom master the recording on either format, and the quality and care are taken. My Audiophiles and stop by to listen and when they see me pull a CD out and play it, they go that sounds good, I then take this new CD clean and apply a pea-sized drop of wax, and playback the disc, they sit there in disbelief, I just smile and say CD suck right, does this sound sick and they to a person has no, this is really, really good sounding, more presence, deeper and tighter bass, and airer highs, just like cleaning LP's. Nothing wrong with the CD format, some of the mastering yes, but same for new reissues LP's.

When the magazines saw the wave of streaming, free music coming as the main source of music listening, for the young folks if it is not portable it not, the numbers bear this out, boomers were LP buyers like me their whole life, so that where high-end saw their chance to survive to get the boomers back into vinyl. SOTA systems they wrote about using the CD format for 20 plus years, now sucked if a CD was used. Vinyl is now God, well the truth lies somewhere in between.

Vinyl can sound as bad as a poor mastered or recorded CD, and the coloration of the vinyl is non stop by the format itself, what table, arm, and cartridge you use changes how the vinyl recordings sounds, not to mention our choice of the phono stage, VTA, and all the rest. Like everything we choose the sound we like, and how we decide to playback our music. So much good music on CD and many of my Discs will never see the light of day on vinyl. So I buy CD weekly, from the USA and a lot from England and Japan. They do a much better job appreciating American artists than we do here at home.

Buy music and enjoy it but don't pigeon hole yourself, vinyl to nice to hold, larger LP's, etc, it is in my DNA, but I have nothing against buying CD's and my system sounds just great and many of the CD's I own I had 1st pressing of the LP's when they were 1st released, that is as true of a sound as intended that you will ever hear, perhaps not perfect, but as they intended it to be released, cannot say that about current reissues at $20-$40.00 a pop. The CD version does not always sound inferior some sound better, more quiet, perfect pitch, no grove distortion on high dynamics, etc. The Ulta Bit product was quite good by the way, but once I found a wax that worked for the cost it was no longer needed, I found by chance a car wax I use on my cars, Griots, Best Show Wax, I cut it down with a spray-on dealer to thin it out a bit, one bottle good for 1,000 CD or so.

 

[CKKeung]

Agree with your thoughts!
There are so many means/formats to the end.

 

[justubes]

Hmmm. i spun disc in a while but have gone through a few cd cleaners.

They all seem to do something different.

The warmer sounding cleaners/enhancers are not as open or produce deep bass.

So i pretty must carefully selected discs to treat depending on the sound/recordings.

Hot recording always get the warmer, mellower solution.

Overtime, not wiping twice but you can mix a little and get the best of 2 solutions by mixing a drop or 2 at a time and test the effect outcome on new cds much like mixing cocktails especially if a particular solution is consistently too warm, overly smooth or if it has too stringent or too much added bite with excellent results. You can use a small spray bottle and mix out some proportions.

please dont mix cream based cleaners.

The one i liked best was from Jenalabs a cream but it started to harden in just 6 months.

The Intron and platinum bit are very revealing and clear sounding, so they got mixed with the Steinmusic which produces a very warm and natural sound, but a tad soft sounding.

Do test out different microfibre cloths for final buffing, which do have an impact too

 

[jfrech]

I have a old Auric Illuminator kit. Ink pen for the CD edges and a polishing compound for both the label side and data side of a disc. I haven't used this in years. But I just treated a disc. It's an unmistakable improvement.

I forgot what I already knew. Auric Illuminator is still available at most mail order places like Elusive Disc etc etc. Try it...

And thanks for this thread to remind me

 

[Testy Troll]

I have a old Auric Illuminator kit. Ink pen for the CD edges and a polishing compound for both the label side and data side of a disc. I haven't used this in years. But I just treated a disc. It's an unmistakable improvement.

I forgot what I already knew. Auric Illuminator is still available at most mail order places like Elusive Disc etc etc. Try it...

And thanks for this thread to remind me

Another vote for the Auric Illuminator kit.
Used this for many moons....

 

[Sablon Audio]

The Intron and platinum bit are very revealing and clear sounding, so they got mixed with the Steinmusic which produces a very warm and natural sound, but a tad soft sounding.

The Nespa pro cd finaliser also had a similar effect in producing a warm and soft sound. I actually stopped using mine.

One product which was both quite effective and fun to do - something which can’t be said of cleaning hundreds of discs - is the Audiodeske CD lathe. Trimming the edges and applying a dark magic marker certainly improved sound quality. Lower noisefloor, untangled complex detail and had crisper timing.

 

[BruceD]

The Nespa pro cd finaliser also had a similar effect in producing a warm and soft sound. I actually stopped using mine.

One product which was both quite effective and fun to do - something which can’t be said of cleaning hundreds of discs - is the Audiodeske CD lathe. Trimming the edges and applying a dark magic marker certainly improved sound quality. Lower noisefloor, untangled complex detail and had crisper timing.

Yes in retrospect I sold the Acoustic Revive RD3 but for the different reasons than the ones you mentioned. I found on some discs the the upper
sonics were too edgy and over defined after this treatment-also slightly thinner overall presentation.

I do however find Rainers CD Trimmer (RIP) quite beneficial-I've owned this for nearly 20 years and agree it works, for me anyway--once again varying aspects on some CDs- the crap pressed ones sound just that still!

Don't know about the fun part --but essential --yes to me.

In the "wash-up" to all these polishes/ Buffers/ Sprays /blah blah--you cannot go past the good warm water and tab of dishwashing liquid
on the playing side , warm water wash, and paper towel dry--works wonders on soothing the digital edge which can be the bane of the medium.

Purely personal YVMV

BruceD

 

[Sablon Audio]

......and Novus 2 polish is good at removing fine scratches.

All rather life consuming and I literally gave away my cd collection several years ago after having it ripped to HDD for streaming. That in turn has been gathering dust since I found Tidal and Qobuz.