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Rain-X as CD Enhancement Treatment

I have used the Auric Illuminator treatment on my CD collection for several years now. I am a believer in the AI, and repeated A/B tests of identical treated/untreated CDs bore out significant improvements after treatment with AI.

I ran out of the fluid and my marker dried out, so I was searching for mew treatments on the market before buying another AI kit or choosing something new. That's when I ran across this article by Greg Weaver at Soundstage, where he talks about having used Rain-X and a green marker(Staedtler Lumocolor 357, price about $3.00) as a treatment on his CDs to great effect.

http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize200005.htm

Being the complete geek that I am, I had to try it for my self. I found the marker at Office Depot, and picked up a little bottle of Rain-X for $2.99. I treated a couple of CDs that I have ended up with duplicate copies of (Grant Green's Green Street, Frank Sinatra Sextet Live In Paris)and tested the Rain-X/marker treated vs. untreated disks.

Well, low and behold, the treated disks sounded notably improved; the music was clearer and louder, especially the midrange, the soundstage was larger with better definition and separation of instruments and the bass was tighter and deeper.

I can't say that the Rain-X treatment was or was not better sounding than the AI, but at the least very it is close, for a fraction of the price.

Has anyone else ever tried the Rain-X treatment?
craig_hoch
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Dgarretson...There is a line somewhere between enthusiasm and madness. You and I may draw that line differently. I would humbly suggest that testing the limit of a turbo-charged BMW motorcycle is over the top, and it appears that you have come to that view also.

But, I will do your RainX thing, and report my observations.
clio09
3,346 posts
 
I miss Sean's posts around here.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Everyone's comments on using Rain-X on car motivated me to use the now 2 year old Rain-X that I tried on my car windows.

I still maintain that a commitment to an existing theory of what explains observations that dismisses new observations is fundamentally unscientific.
rodman99999
6,033 posts
 
If everyone maintained a commitment to existing theories of what explains observations that dismissed new observations, there would be no further "science".
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
It used to be that application for a patent had to be accompanied by a model of the invention. Somewhere in Washington DC there is a warehouse with thousands of interesting models. They changed the rule, and now models are not required with one or two specific exceptions. One such exception is a perpetual motion machine. You have to submit a working model of that. There are some things that are just impossible.
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