Attention: Steve Hoffman, others.. Best way/cleaner for SACD and CD's?

I have always taken exceptional care of my SACD's and CD's, and have never had to clean them. I have found one of my favorite SACD's to have a large finger smudge on it, enough so that my player won't play it correctly.
I have always thought, that it is best to never have to clean, than ever to put any liquid, or rub any cloth on the surface, so, I have never had a blemish on my discs, until now.
I am considering to try "Shine-Ola"... is this about the safest and best product? What are the best products, or procedures?

Thanks,

Richard Fine

 

Compressed air and a lens cloth....wipe LIGHTLY. If you have to, mist the spot with your breath first to soften the stain.

 

Watch out for lens cloths. If they are made for photography (camera lenses) or cleaning spectacles, they are designed for cleaning glass and they are too hard; they can scratch the polycarbonate from which CDs are made, which is extremely soft.

The cloths that come with Lloyd Walker's "Vivid" are fine, and when you run out, the documentation says to use Kleenex Viva Paper Towels. Lloyd knows his stuff.

 

That's good to know. This is one of the reasons I specified "wipe LIGHTLY". I've put hairlines on a cd before going overboard. I stand corrected. Thx

 

Always wipe in a straight line from the inside hub hole towards the outer edge. Never rub your optical discs in a circular motion or across the surface with the "groove" lines, it can do permanent damage.

 

What about those microfiber cloths? I know 3M made one specifically for swiping CDs.

 

As for cleaning the actual CDs and SACDs, I just use a Dawn dishwashing soap and warm running water. Rub it in with your finger and rinse thoroughly. I have never had a problem with doing it this way. If you do a search on this subject, you will find this is a pretty common method around here.

 

Shine-Ola, in combination with Viva paper towels, works extremely well for me. It's very easy on the disc and really cleans up the top end. More open, more detailed, more sparkle. I also tried the Walker Audio Vivid, but I just couldn't get good results with it, no matter how hard I tried. Even using the supplied Viva paper towels, and on perfectly clean discs, it left hairline scratches in disc after disc.

 

But I don't know how to tell *%#@ from Shine-Ola!

 

Paper towels contain microfibers that can be abrasive on the optical discs, be careful with any papertowels. Better to use 100% cotton.

 

But can you tell Shine-Ola from *%#@?

 

I once washed a DAD (was it an HDAD) with warm, soapy water...

1 year later, tiny drops of water still are trapped inside the inner ring.

Proceed with caution...

 

Viva paper towels are recommended by Lloyd Walker (Vivid) as replacements for the ones that come with the kit. These are fine.