Easy, Free Tweak for CD/SACD player

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by George P, May 18, 2020.

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  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Last year, I saw a video from Steve Guttenberg on youtube. It was an interview with a friend of his named Miguel who recommended three tweaks for a CD player, the easiest one being to put something heavy (like a book) on top of your CD player. At the time, I didn't try it, but today I had some time and decided to put my old CD player on top of my current SACD player and see if I could hear a difference. And I did! Every time. With the CD player on top, I get a more solid, fuller sound and better focus. I did this comparison using my HD580 headphones and compared about 10 different CDs and SACDs. I can't listen through my speakers until later tonight because my girlfriend works from home, but I am excited to see what I hear.

    Anyone else try this?

    Here's the video I referred to above:

     
  2. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yes, I have tried this and it worked for me too!

    Other folks put a different component on top of the player.
     
    George P likes this.
  3. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :thumbsup:

    What differences did you hear, Gary?
     
  4. Gordon Crisp

    Gordon Crisp Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    I put my junk on top of my CD Player. :thumbsup:
     
  5. evo777

    evo777 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.K.
    Hi I saw this video too & carried the internal dampening,I used Dalmat antivibration sheets which is what high-end manufacturers use for dampening too.... apparently.

    I used it on my pre & pwr amp & phono stage,the biggest difference I heard was with the pre amp. Lol really I wasn't expecting what I heard,it was breath taking for the price & the best tweak I've ever made. I should state I used about FIVE sheets on the pre amp alone,top plate, bottom plate & internal case too every bare part I could find.

    So yeah if your system is half decent you'll hear a difference,you may not even like it but you'll hear it!

    -evo777
     
    cdgenarian likes this.
  6. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    I'll give it a try tomorrow George. I planned on pulling out my old Oppo BDP 80 from storage, I'll set it on top of the Denon :righton:
     
    cdgenarian and George P like this.
  7. Best way to improve the sound of SACD's? Rip them,extract the tracks from the iso with ISO2DSD and play the files from an SSD either as native DSD or as DoP.
    Nothing beats the stability of data reading of a good SSD, the likes of Toshiba (the inventors of flash memory), Crucial, Samsung or Sandisk.
     
  8. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I'll be curious to hear what you think. I am listening now through speakers and I am not sure if I like the change as much as I did through headphones.
     
    cdgenarian and c-eling like this.
  9. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    On a whim I put the heavey base support of my old Music Hall MMF-7 motor on top of my CD player and there was a near immediate difference. Everything sharpened up in a good way. I experimented raising and lowering it, the effect was like turning a potentiometer dial. The weight stayed.
     
  10. Espen R

    Espen R Senior Member

    Location:
    Norway
    There are two kinds of people in this world, those who belive you, and those who see the only reason for your experience is that your making this up in your mind. For the latter; the CD system and the reed solomon code error correction system always provide a 100% correct digital signal, with or without books on top of your player. And if it's 100% correct, it can't any better and therefore the sound quality will not change, the only change is in your head.

    Don't Shoot the messenger :D
     
  11. jtw

    jtw Forum Resident

    The audiophile cd player weights work even better!

    This should make for a very easy blind test.
     
    DaMoodyBlues and TheVU like this.
  12. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    I have no idea if this tweak works, but it's feasible. If every CD player delivered a perfect digital stream, you could just buy the cheapest available and be done with it.

    Unfortunately, many negative things can affect the CIRC/CRC process as the data is transferred from the CD to the playback DAC. These include jitter, problems with the laser in the transport, missing or unreadable data on the CD, and the quality of the CIRC circuitry in the player (among others).

    Error correction does not always provide "a 100% correct digital signal". It's only as correct as the output from the error correction circuitry. There are always errors on the CD, some of which can be corrected by reading and processing the EC bits on the disc. Others will be marked "Uncorrectable" by CIRC. These are then re-created by interpolation based on the data before and after the missing bits (an educated guess, IOW). If that doesn't work, the bits are removed from the stream, relying on human hearing (ears and brain) to fill in the missing pieces in the analog stream.

    Tweaks that improve the quality of the CD read process could certainly make a difference. Adding weights to the player could improve the transport stability, reducing the read errors that are passed on to the CIRC, possibly reducing the amount of interpolation used. No harm in trying the tweak, in any case.
     
  13. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks for sharing this.

    I'd love to hear from people who have actually tried this. Anyone else try this tweak?
     
    DigMyGroove likes this.
  14. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    DoP is not a format. DoP is just a protocol for streaming DSD data over hardware which doesn't natively understand what DSD data is.
     
  15. blakep

    blakep Senior Member

    Yes. Best way is to tweak the way EVO has suggested above: by lining the interior case work where it is
    possible with anti vibration sheets which you can typically pick up at any auto supply store.

    You can also damp the transport with rope caulk or mortite (do a google search for rope caulk tweak
    cd or dvd player).

    Might cost you $15 to $20 in materials to do this but the results are clearly audible, and positive IMO.

    Have been doing this for about 15 years now.
     
    George P and 2channelforever like this.
  16. Me too with positive results.
     
  17. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks for this!

    Can you say a bit about how the sound differed after adding the internal damping?
     
  18. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks, can you say a bit about what the positive results were?
     
  19. patrickd

    patrickd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin TX USA
    Sounds a bit uncomfortable as a listening position but whatever works....:)
     
    rem 600, tkl7, ScottRiqui and 8 others like this.
  20. Linger63

    Linger63 Forum Resident

    Location:
    AUSTRALIA
    To anyone trying this............

    Just watch out that you are not covering up any ventilation slots or impeding any heat dissipation.
     
    jkauff, sharedon, Dignan2000 and 2 others like this.
  21. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks, Blake. I imagine the level of change/improvement has to do with how well the unit is built/designed?

    I ask because my current player DCD-1600NE | High Quality Super Audio CD Player lists a number of things that were done to supress vibration.
     
  22. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :agree: My vent slots are on the bottom of the unit.
     
    Linger63 likes this.
  23. Echo

    Echo Forum Resident

    Is that advice also valuable for a toploader cd player? :whistle:


    [​IMG]

    (my model, a Bow ZZ-8)
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2020
  24. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Examples from the Denon site:

    New Denon original disc drive design
    The DCD-1600NE’s disc drive design contains high-class S.V.H. (Suppress Vibration Hybrid) Mechanism. The circuitry that controls the pickup and decodes the signals read from the disc has been newly developed. Signal paths have been shortened to an absolute minimum and circuits have been miniaturized to ensure that excess current or noise will not occur.

    An S.V.H. Loader of a hybrid construction combining different materials gives stability to the disc drive so that the disc can be read with utmost accuracy. In addition, the mechanism’s low center of gravity suppresses any vibration occurring inside the mechanism due to disc rotation, and the mechanism structure also effectively suppresses external vibration. By eliminating unwanted vibration, servo-related operations are minimized, and by also minimizing unnecessary controls and current consumption, digital signals can be read from the disc with optimum accuracy under stable conditions.

    Direct Mechanical Ground Construction
    The integrity of musical signals deteriorates when they are subject to internal vibration caused by disc rotation or the power transformer, or to airborne vibration caused by sound pressure from the speakers. To guard against such influences, Denon engineers designed a vibration suppression structure they called “Direct Mechanical Ground Construction”. In this design, the power transformers – themselves a source of vibration – have been placed close to the feet of the DCD-1600NE where unwanted vibration is funneled directly to the ground and prevented from affecting nearby circuitry. Also, by placing the drive mechanism – the part with the greatest mass – low in the center of the chassis, the low center of gravity effectively absorbs internal vibration caused by disc rotation and also protects the mechanism from external vibration.
     
  25. I did it so long ago it's hard to remember except to say the music sounded more lifelike. Here's a link to the thread that motivated me at the time. BTW, I there's probably at least a pound of mortite inside the top cover.

    Do you really need a CD mat? )
     
    George P likes this.
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