Black CD's, Why & How they sound better.

In a post of our fellow member "The Black Dahlquist" i had mention that i have an old Denon cdp that can't read normal cdr's but can read black cdr's - witch i have a few because i always found that the sound from the black ones were better than an average aluminum cdr - at that time i didn't know why...
Yesterday i came across an interesting "white paper" from Genesis Loudspeaker page, having an interesting explanation about cd’s in general and The Black CD in particular.

In Quest of Absolute Fidelity™: The Saga of the Black CD - Finding Black Gold It's a pdf file.

Did you guys ever tried black cdr's ?


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You might be on to something really great here, Alvaro.

I read the first couple ol paragraphs, and I´m already interested. I must try them out.

Where can you normally get those Black CDR´s?


Jorge

Normally i bought them in computer stores. Kids use them because they are optimized for games and images.
The other day i was talking with a friend about this black cd's and he pointed me the Plextor PX-716UF DVDR/CDR burner that supports PlexTools Professional for quality testing and jitter measurement of burned CD-R’s. Someday i will try one of those...


This post has been edited by clint e. on May 05, 2007 11:03 am

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About the Plextor i've notice that is a few at e-bay with decent prices. New they cost more than 200,00 €.

Taiyo Yuden announced that a new DVD±R recording technology called "AutoStrategy" developed, that used from the new Plextor PX-716A.

The following text comes from Japanese translation so there might be errors:

"...AUTOSTRATEGY is the technology which applies laser light to a disk, discriminates the characteristic of a disk, and can write in on the optimal conditions for every disk. Compared with the system which specifies a disk by the conventional media ID, the influence of the characteristic variation at the time of disk manufacture is reduced, and the optimal writing can be performed. Moreover, it writes in also about the disk with which Media ID are not registered, and it is said that conditions can be optimized.

When optical energy is specifically added to a disk by laser, the heat distribution of a record side is analyzed in an instant. Based on the result, a laser output and irradiation time are controlled the optimal and it is said by forming a precise pit that write-in grace is raised.

Since crude media are written in and it becomes discriminable in front by adopting AUTOSTRATEGY technology, it is said that the trouble "writing is not made" and "it is unreproducible although written in" is mitigable. In the company, it is supposed that activity which is considering as a chance that the drive which adopted this technology in a few days will be commercialized, will cooperate with a drive maker from now on, and makes AUTOSTRATEGY an industry standard is performed..."

More information found at Plextor USA website:".... A technology that determines the standard deviation of any blank disc and automatically optimizes the write strategy for unknown media, enabling high-quality disc recording. AUTOSTRATEGY technology is the culmination of five years of research and development by Taiyo Yuden, a leading Japanese supplier of quality CD and DVD recording media.

?Plextor constantly develops and introduces features that differentiate our DVD and CD drives from competitive products,? said Howard Wing, vice president of sales and marketing for Plextor. ?The combination of Taiyo Yuden AUTOSTRATEGY technology and Plextor?s proven expertise of high-quality disc recording has yielded outstanding results. We have successfully demonstrated that the PX-716 with AUTOSTRATEGY is capable of providing high-quality writing over a broad spectrum of media. This remarkable feature will appeal to anyone who purchases unbranded media to save money, but has been disappointed by low-quality recordings in the past.?..."

Here's the Plextools page : http://www.plextools.com/

This post has been edited by clint e. on May 05, 2007 11:36 am

Well i have to do it. I sold my "old" Hitachi DVDR and bought a Plextor.
Not the external unity, just an internal one the PLEXTOR PX-800A 18X DUAL LAYER. I think it's the cheaper one, but boy it came with Plextools wicth is a powerfull tool for quality testing and jitter measurement of burned CD-R’s, just as i'd describe in my past posts.
If you have a comp for audio source or want to burn some cd's with better quality than EAC i strongly recomend this baby. And also black cdr's, of course.

Well, because I’m always searching for a better sound, this time a little tweak that i tried and i want to share with you.

I have tried this in several cds before I reach to conclusions. IMHO this tweak is great in terms of more sound consistency, detail and most important, the overall sound becomes warmth and more appealing to the ears.

I think you should try it out for yourselves before taken any conclusion:
And, please don’t laugh…………………………………………………………………..yet.


Here’s a pic of what I’ve done:
Make 6 black lines on top of the CD a little less than 6-7cm - one quarter inch wide. These lines run from the center of the CD to the edge (you are dividing the CD into six pieces of pie). You can still read the label with these lines.
Also, blacken the edges and the top and bottom of the CD around the center hole where it is clear.



This post has been edited by clint e. on December 23, 2007 12:36 pm

any idea how this works and how did you hear about it?

Of course it's not my idea, i read it in a magazine.

And i quote:

"Everything you do to a CD will change the sound, no matter how low of electrical jitter there is down stream. The laser is an incredibly powerful light. Any splashing or messing with its beam and you have audible problems....
Because the laser is red everyone has assumed that you have to use a green marker to absorb the light. Black absorbs all colors and works very effectively. You have to use a marker that is opaque, doesn’t come off on your fingers and also does not peel off.

This idea came from the Marigo Crossbow mat with it’s three wider lines. The spinning black lines really make a difference. "


http://www.marigoaudio.com/

Why not? Green has been tried before.

You forgot to quote the word "yet".
Aren't you curious about this voodoo tweak?
It's cheap & painless.

OK, if it was a vinyl you have to use the appropriate mat, clamp, cleaning the stylus, cleaning the record, setting the azimuth, overhang, tracking force and vertical tracking angle........................................................................

Digital information is thought by many to be very simple to decode, in fact it isn't. And IMHO everything that helps to lighten up dac's work are welcome.

I've tried this kind of "voodoo" in some cds and to be honest i'm content with the results. IMO are very similar to copy your "bad" cds to black cdrs, acts kinda an equalizer.

OK. Now you can laugh.

did you use a marker with water based ink? i've read that solvents used in permanent markers will erode the disk and its data.

You can use your basic black Sanford Sharpie marker. With this marker you need to go over each area several times to make it opaque.
I used Bic Marking 2000.

I used to color all the centers of my CD's green as it was all the rage. I stopped doing it when I realized i noticed no difference in sound. The idea makes sense though so I might just try you black pie idea. Were a goofy bunch

From a friend, another cheap cd tweak - he has a Denon and a Marantz cdp.

Very cheap CD mat -

Here's what he says:

"Take an old 5,25 inch floppy disk (the real floppy floppy) and take out the magnetic disk. Now cut this disk exactly to the size of a CD. Than, open your CD tray and insert your CD and the floppy on top.

This simple tweak acts mostly as a laser deflector enhancing the mirror effect of the CD so the error correction of the player does not have to work as much. The disk works also as an anti-static. Sound improves towrds more analogue qualities."

IMHO, this might work on some players, but I suggest caution with this tweak. First of all, this would certainly work only as a mirror effect enchantment.
The weight of the floppy disk is next to nothing, so there´s no vibration dampening etc. effects from this.
But also, because of that weightlesness and flexibility of the disk, it might cause more troubles than any real advantage. On my NAD player, the flapping sound of the fastly rotating disk made it impossible to even hear the actual music at quiet levels! Offered good laughs, if nothing else..

Did you guys tried this tweak before?