Cleaning CDs, to do or foo?

[Duckworp]

I have some of the Art du Son cleaner. It works. I have 2 copies of a number of CDs and tried before and after cleaning comparing treated and non-treated. Before they sounded identical, after one was cleaned the cleaned disc sounded better. And expectation bias not relevant as I got someone else to play the CDs blind and I choose the cleaned disc more often than statistically random. My mate could not detect the cleaned cd, so the differences were subtle (but noticeable) and he has self-confessed cloth ears.

[Macca]

How many trials did you do?

[Duckworp]

How many trials did you do?

3 or 4 CDs. It was some time ago now.

[Macca]

No I mean how many trials did you do with each CD? You've got to do quite a few to get away from random chance. A coin can land heads ten times in a row.


I've done ad hoc blind tests myself and it's been enough to convince me as it convinced you, but if I was going to try to convince anyone else they wouldn't be anything like rigorous enough.


The more unlikely the claim, the more rigorous the test needs to be. In this case for the fluid to improve sound quality as opposed to just making the disc play without skips or drop outs, then the people who designed CD would have to be wrong about the way it actually works. Or there is something completely unknown involved in how it works. So you need to be sure that your test wasn't flawed in some way. Since that is the most likely explanation.

[da2222]

Very well put, I'd be inclined to agree with all points...

The more unlikely the claim, the more rigorous the test needs to be. In this case for the fluid to improve sound quality as opposed to just making the disc play without skips or drop outs, then the people who designed CD would have to be wrong about the way it actually works. Or there is something completely unknown involved in how it works. So you need to be sure that your test wasn't flawed in some way. Since that is the most likely explanation.

[walpurgis]

the cleaned disc sounded better

Why?

Assuming you have CD's that are clean and in good condition anyway. What could the Art du Son cleaner possibly be doing to explain this?

[struth]

Ive got a few doubles that I could try this with. even might have some of that cleaner too.

[bobvfr]

I just cleaned the wax out of me ears and am now listening to Jon Lords "Durham Suite" sounds superb

[Macca]

I just cleaned the wax out of me ears and am now listening to Jon Lords "Durham Suite" sounds superb

Through Tannoy Cheviots? That'll blow the wax out of anyone's ears man.

[Frazeur1]

Yikes, I might recommend stuffing that wax back in there! Hah, kidding of course....