Why green ink on a cd works...

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IanATC

Why green ink on a cd works...
« on: 29 Nov 2003, 03:44 pm »
Why green ink works.

You have seen it again, and again.  Use a green felt tip marker, and paint the edge of the inside, and outside of the CD. The sound improves, but why?  Or is it a placebo?  It’s too cheap to be called snake oil, except if you happen to see some kind of “audiophile”  green felt tip for $19.95…then worry… :oops:

Disclaimer:  you must have a revealing system and decent recording to begin with, as my other posts have stated.

Level of effect:  on a less expensive CD player:  NOT subtle.  On a better built CD player:  noticeable.  The effect was pronounced on a 1993 Rotel cd-p, less pronounced on a 2003 Naim cdp. But noticeable in both cases.

What will you hear:  you should hear much more ambient detail, decay, small things, and the soundstage should be deeper, not on a single plane.

 Why does it work?

Optics.  The laser mechanism has to track, and fix errors on the fly.  The power supply switches on and off as it does its work.  The laser information that is picked up isn’t just bumps and pits; it is also optical diffusion, surface scratches and other anomalies.

The green ink helps absorb the refracted light artifacts much the sameway sound proofing absorbs reflected sound in a room.  The result is:  less noise and error, and a cleaner signal.  

It works…try it!  It costs you very little, and can really make that $400  CD player sound like a $1,200 CD player..
 :mrgreen:

dyfromhawaii

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 35
Why green ink on a cd works...
« Reply #1 on: 30 Nov 2003, 06:45 am »
they say the same thing with a *black* felt pen...

I first heard of the green ink phenomena back in 1989 from my local audio dealer when I bought my c-j pv-8.

Sean

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 25
Why green ink on a cd works...
« Reply #2 on: 30 Nov 2003, 07:03 am »
Haven't done any testing with a green marker, but when you use a black marker, performance of the system as a whole and the readability of the disc is reduced.  Not only are discs harder to read, but more error correction is required to capture what is being read.  Sean
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SWG255

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 401
Why green ink on a cd works...
« Reply #3 on: 30 Nov 2003, 08:52 pm »
I tried the green marker on some CDs i had in the late 1980's. It was interesting to me that several of my colleagues also noticed an improvement, and all of us agreed the improvement was inversely proportional to the price of the CD player. We all liked the sound better, and found it most striking on discman type players of the era. I still have a couple of those marked CDs, and it would be interesting to get new unmarked copies to compare them on my Sony SCD1.

WerTicus

Why green ink on a cd works...
« Reply #4 on: 4 Dec 2003, 07:39 am »
I used a black marker figuring that it would not only absorb the red laser but any other specrums that may or may not be present. (due to diffraction perhaps?)  (also i only had a black one and no green ;))


On my denon dvd2900 player it did indeed improve the detailing... it was pretty subtle but I was still surprised it did anything at all :P  Also the bass was noticably more defined....

Oh and last week i had insulation installed into the roof space which has a tin roof above and that also not only makes the house cooler but improved sound all round... probably due to less reflections coming back off the tin roof.

IanATC

Sound
« Reply #5 on: 4 Dec 2003, 09:57 am »
Quote from: WerTicus
I used a black marker figuring that it would not only absorb the red laser but any other specrums that may or may not be present. (due to diffraction perhaps?)  (also i only had a black one and no green ;))


Oh and last week i had insulation installed into the roof space which has a tin roof above and that also not onl ...


I could get real tweaky here and suggest that the cooler air is composed of denser molecules than hot air thus transmitting sound through fluid [air]  better.

But also, cutting down on background noise is just as important as having controlled sound reinforcement.  Blacker background+more signal= more music.