Zaikesman, the reason you need to have two stacks of test discs (both treated and untreated) is so that you can go back and forth and not just convince yourself you are hearing something because you want to believe. Also, you can't have a valid test by listening, treating, and then listening again for the reasons I mentioned above.
I waited a long time before I tried this stuff because I basically felt the way you do. Since there were two of us testing, we also able blind tested each other. But the fact of the matter is, it wasn't even close. First CD, first track and it was obvious which was better. This wasn't one of those pained "I think I hear something" listneing sessions, either. This was obvious to even the casual listener. Like I said, we went back and forth many times just to verify the result, but it wasn't to convince ourselves, because it was very obvious. That said, my friend still spent an entire evening just listening to the two "Graceland" discs to see if there was any part of any track that wasn't better (he thought maybe he liked the wooden block percussion better on the untreated disc, but that was it).
As to why the volume level is higher, I have no idea.
I waited a long time before I tried this stuff because I basically felt the way you do. Since there were two of us testing, we also able blind tested each other. But the fact of the matter is, it wasn't even close. First CD, first track and it was obvious which was better. This wasn't one of those pained "I think I hear something" listneing sessions, either. This was obvious to even the casual listener. Like I said, we went back and forth many times just to verify the result, but it wasn't to convince ourselves, because it was very obvious. That said, my friend still spent an entire evening just listening to the two "Graceland" discs to see if there was any part of any track that wasn't better (he thought maybe he liked the wooden block percussion better on the untreated disc, but that was it).
As to why the volume level is higher, I have no idea.