New Product......Intelligent Box

Is this a joke?

I love this thread!

I'd be willing to believe this gadget does in fact improve sound if someone can explain to me in detail how it works both in principle and practice.

Then the next question would be if it was worth it or not. I doubt zapped CDs will bring more on the open market necessarily.

The only explanation I could come up with for how a CDs sound can be improved via zapping is if this gadget or any other for that matter makes the digital encoding stand out optically with more contrast to the optical laser on the pickup so that perhaps fewer bits get lost during reading.

Also I would ask whether the improvement is constant across different CD laser pickup devices and/or across different digital CD encoding systems and-or media (for example, media used in manufacturing commercial CDs versus say recordable media available for home use, which uses a different system to encode the disk.

An acid test would be to record the number of bits read/lost for both treated and untreated CDs on average, with some kind of digital device designed to measure such things.

Which raises an interesting question. IS there a CD player out there that actually measures and displays such things as the actual # of bits read versus the max possible for the medium? I would like to see a feature like this. It would enable me to audibly correlate what I was hearing with the actual digital bitstream being picked up and processed. I would expect scratched or worn CDs or CDs with manufacturing defects to read lower in general than the optimal possible.

I suppose it's also possible that this gadget does alter the disc in some way that simply changes or alters the bit stream being encoded sound in a manner that some might perceive as an improvement if there is something they didn't like with what they were listening to originally.

Even if true, I can't see the technical argument that would justify calling modifying the intended encoding of the music on the disc categorically as an "improvement". It could work both ways, I would think.

Someone please explain it to me! I want to be a believer (even if not a buyer)!

Oh, one other question.

Do they have a gadget that I can use to zap my vinyl and improve it as well?

maybe a good marketing slogan for this gadget would be "PhotoShop for CDs".

Is there an "undo" button?

Tvad,

Hilarious!

I actually own a cassette tape rewinder that I bought for a pittance years ago at Radio Shack in order to offload some wear and tear from my expensive cassette deck. I had faith in it....and it worked!

Freemand,

I suppose this is no different than any other piece of audio gear or modern technology, for that matter.

If the user likes something for whatever reason and thinks it makes a difference for the better in their life, that's probably all that really matters.

But, if someone wants to explain the facts here about how this thing really works, I personally really want to hear it. But I am not interested enough really nor would I trust the vendor enough going in to spend my time seeking out the truth at all costs.

The original question was "has anyone tried this?". So far the answer is "yes" but I think nobody has been able to explain how it works to achieve the claimed benefit. I've speculated how it might.

Yes, the answer is surely very technical, if it exists, but that's just the nature of the beast.

I'd challenge the vendor to come into this thread if they're looking and explain it. They might be able to change some minds and even make a sale or two to potential buyers if they can.

Or not.

Actually it is explained in gory soft sold techno babble on the vendor's web site if you do a Google search.

But I didn't see an answer to my question: Bits are bits. They are either there or not there. For this gizmo to work, one has to assume some may not be there (fine) and this gadget gets them back somehow. How? This is a big "how" that I still do not understand.

Somebody explain it to me please?

Whoops, sorry...actually the vendor site has info about their intelligent chip but nothing about the intelligent box, which is different though maybe each is attempting to solve the same problem ( I should read more carefully I suppose)????

I'm so confused.... I think I give up on this topic and will resign my self to living with my CDs the way they are.

And I consider myself a fairly technically savvy person, especially when it comes to bits and bytes. I can even do numeric base conversions when needed! Impressive, huh?

I don't have an answer for many things....this is one of the less important issues in my mind.

I do find the discussion here most fascinating though!

And, I've actually thought of a way that zapping a disc COULD improve the sound. I haven't determined though that this is what the MD product does or not though yet.

I will need to read some more....maybe there's a new patent and some money to be made in here somewhere!