pslewis

Quite a few years ago I heard something about putting CD's in the freezer and listening to the massive improvement in the sound quality.

Well, lunchtime, I was about to chuck out one of those free with the paper CD's ....... why not test out the theory I thought?

So, in the freezer it went - at about 1pm ...... guess what?

I've just taken it out at 10pm (9 hours later) and played it .... unbelievable!!! .... amazing improvement!!

I am gobsmacked, it must realign the crystals or something?

Anyone know whether the improvement is permanent?

Is it too late to take out a patent?

Pete

Jye

Pete, your deffo getting senile. You already made a post re this ages and ages ago

pslewis

Jye - don't you get fed up stalking me?

Its spooky!!

Pete

+Doc+

Yep tis true, what is more astounding is that songs that relate to the cold are better quality musically, an example Vanilla Ice ICE ICE BABY Phat tune!

lightning101

Ed Meitner, designer of the Museatex line of electronics, has discovered that cryogenically freezing a CD changes the physical structure of polycarbonate, the plastic material from which CDs are made. The result is reportedly an audible improvement in sound quality. In this process, CDs are placed in a cryogenic freezing chamber and the temperature is slowly reduced over eight hours to 75 Kelvins, or about -300 degrees Fahrenheit. This is approximately the temperature of liquid nitrogen, the chamber's cooling agent. The temperature is then slowly brought back to room temperature over another eight hours.

This technique reportedly relaxes the lattice structure of a material (polycarbonate in the case of CD) that has been previously distorted by heat or pressure, both of which are present during CD injection molding. By reducing the molecular bonds holding the material together, the internal stress in the material is reduced, thus changing its resonant characteristics. Indeed, a treated disc feels slightly more flexible than an untreated disc.

But how could freezing a CD possibly affect its sound quality? So what if the polycarbonate has a different structure? The data are all ones and zeros. Furthermore, uncorrected data errors are almost nonexistent in most discsci without treatment, ruling out improved data integrity as an answer. I posed these questions to Ed Meitner and got the following explanation (footnote 1).

Mechanical vibration of the disc causes the HF signal to become noisy and have excessive jitter. The HF signal is the raw signal output from the CD player's photodetector (footnote 2). By freezing a CD, the disc's mechanical resonance is lowered, improving the quality of the HF signal retrieved from the disc. Although theory states that noise and jitter in the HF signal will have no effect on sound quality—the HF signal is squared, buffered, decoded, filtered, and clocked out of another buffer with quartz-crystal accuracy—many digital designers maintain that HF signal quality does affect the sound.

Ed Meitner claims that the HF signal improvement from a cryogenically treated disc is easily measurable. I looked at the HF signal on an oscilloscope from the Esoteric P2 transport with treated and untreated discs. I could see no difference in the signal quality. However, it is very difficult to make comparisons without seeing the two HF signals side by side.

Meitner is talking to some audiophile labels about mass-treating their releases. Apparently, the process is efficient and economical, with the ability to treat thousands of discs at once. Liquid nitrogen, which doesn't come in direct contact with the CDs, is inexpensive and readily available. Interestingly, this process is said to yield similar sonic improvements with a vinyl phonograph record. In addition to CDs and LPs, the process has been used on LaserVision-format video discs, speaker cable, interconnects, integrated circuits, and musical instrument strings.

Cryogenic freezing is also used to treat machine tools like drill bits, copper welding tools, and saw blades. The process reportedly improves their wear characteristics, thus extending the tool's useful life. The treatment doesn't always work, however, and there is no consensus among metallurgists that the process is always beneficial. In fact, the effects of cryogenically freezing materials is not well understood; little scientific research has been done to explain the phenomenon (footnote 3).

Another tweak developed by Ed Meitner is painting a CD's top surface black. This reportedly improves sound quality by improving the signal at the CD player's photodetector. Before describing how this works, let's look at the playback laser beam's path through the disc.

The playback beam enters the disc through the surface without the label. It travels through the 1.2mm disc thickness where it encounters pits impressed in the polycarbonate. To reflect the beam back through the disc and to the photodetector, a thin layer of aluminum is deposited on the disc surface, which conforms to the pit structure. A protective coating of varnish seals in the aluminum and prevents it from oxidizing. The label is then silk-screened on top of the protective coating.

Jye

--don't you get fed up stalking me--

After 4 years, why give up now? lol

akshay67

Old trick

Try the green pen too - it absorbs scattered lazer photons.

Get yourself a green whiteboard marker and draw around the edge of the CD.

Jye

Or a better hi-fi!!!!

pslewis

Jye

We do seem to be 2 of the oldies!! ...... still, its been nice to walk along with you ................................ even if you are a complete ****

Pete

Edited to say:- I've done a search and it was only in June 2003!! I am getting senile!!

[Edited by pslewis - 1/9/2004 10:44:04 PM]

akshay67

LOL @ Jye...But I don't have the money. I'm happy with what I've got - never understood people's desire to earn loads and then get expensive hi-fi

pslewis

Silver cables .......... whats that all about then?

Pete

deano

Utter bollox

Pete,

If you jump in the freezer (like Walt Disney has) you might live to be another 1000 years

[Edited by deano - 1/9/2004 10:48:18 PM]

akshay67

S&M

Jye

--never understood people's desire to earn loads and then get expensive hi-fi--

Believe it from me m8, I cant afford my hi-fi

Pete, after years of careful consideration, I have finally decided you are a complete and harmless amateur compared to the newer, far more obviously obnoxious trolls and flame merchants. May you last just a few years longer so that you may cross swords with some real *****, lol.

ps. you dont need the 4


[Edited by Jye - 1/9/2004 10:54:57 PM]

pslewis

Jye

Well, I've always been harmless!!

I always prided myself in lending a little class to the name troll

Who are these wannabbees?? Let me at 'em!!

I'm getting too old for this game, whats next? Bowling? Croquet?

Pete

Kevin Groat

Pete,

It's a bit like Gold wheels, you don't know why they're better they just are....

Jye

Who are these wannabbees?? Let me at 'em!!

I would tell you Pete, but as they are presently trying to emulate you, you would all end up kissing each others *****, so I doubt it would provide much entertainment for the rest of us

The Zohan

I have hear that sitting on your hand/arm until it goes dead and spanking the monkey then feels like someone else is doing it, anyone had any experience of this?

alibi

Will this also work with DVD's?

G00ner

And vinyl ?

dsmith

Apparently for Mini-Discs you the reverse is true. Need to be warmed as much as possible then played. 30 mins in low oven should be enough. Need to make sure it gets into the MD player before it cools though

Deano