Isolation Ward From ebony pucks to magic foil, mystical and controversial tweaks.

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RE: Will those edge treatments work ....

Posted by David-L. (A) on October 14, 2018 at 19:20:42

In Reply to: Will those edge treatments work .... posted by emailtim on September 13, 2018 at 14:18:00:

Ok, I'm back from vacation. (Note to self: Avoid going to China by way of North Korea).

"Edge treatments" in audio, are usually done with a coloured marker. Although there may be some other types of audio treatments people effect for "edge treatments" that utilize liquids or creams, we'll stick with the good ol' "green pen" et al. for this discourse. This was all started a few decades ago, with the introduction of the "CD Stoplight" green pen. (Although a lesser known but similar edge treatment marker was P.W.B.'s "Chunky Pen"). Cheapos will use regular off-the-shelf pens and markers for edge treatment tweaks, which I'm fine with. But they should not be expected to be as effective as the purpose-built products.

Now for my next trick, I'll attempt to answer your queries, as if you were serious, with deadly serious answers...-

1. Just the outer edges. And it will indeed improve the sound from your so-called (ha!) "bit-perfect" rips. Except that you won't be able to play them, because once you take the platters out of your hard drive, your data is shot (idiot). As with CD's, you place 3 or 4 marks about 1" in length, around the perimeter of the disc for best result, not the entire edge.


2. If you have an SSD, you would try the same method, the edge. It's why they call it an "-edge- treatment", get it?


Now, aside from your risible notion that ripping a CD will result in a copy sounding exactly the same because you've called it "bit perfect", the other area of ignorance you wade into, is believing that these edge treatments work on the media you apply them to.

They don't.

I've been debating the green pens with professional skeptics on-line for at least a quarter of a century, and the ignorance about them just doesn't ever get any better. Most skeptics never even tried the products, and if they did and thought they heard differences, they would just ascribe it to a placebo. Because it couldn't possibly have an effect, right? And like this, most audio freaks are scared to just wander outside of their ideological fences around their cranial property, for fear they'll be bitten by the ideological wolves that lay in wait to attack them and everything they know in their small ideas of the world.

Of course, that is correct. The green markers couldn't possibly have an effect. Not if you believe that it works on principles stated by the manufacturer; or other skeptics. When it comes to avant garde audio inventions, here's a secret I will share with you tonight: manufacturers don't always know how their products work. They don't always get it right. The good people at "CD Stoplight" tried to, bless their souls. But then their hypothesis was easily discounted, when people pointed out that the green color cannot have an effect upon the wavelength used by lasers. Let alone affect the 1's and 0's, or the "bit-perfectness".

And that's because it has no such effect on the laser, or even the medium. So, if you -were- fool enough to open your hard drive, take out the platters and treat them (and note, I'm not saying you're -not-), we'll guess what, Sparky? It'll still have an effect. Obviously, not on any music stored on the platters you just quiched. But whatever effect it has (and the effect depends on the marker used as well as the color), it will have that effect on anything you play, anywhere in your home. That's because edge treatments, like pretty much —everything else in audio—, are what some people might call "listener related tweaks". ie. Tweaks that affect the listener's -perception- of sound**; not the sound signal itself.

(**Not to be confused with the infamous placebo effect. This is a -real- effect).

"CD Stoplight" is hardly the only manufacturer who, it appears, doesn't quite know how their bleeding edge tweaks work. I suspect that "Machina Dynamica" would also fall into those cracks. I mean, I read the hypothesis for "Brilliant Pebbles", having something to do with vibrations or EMI/RFI. Ok, really? Well, I haven't tried them, let alone tested, so I don't know if that's a possibility. But I did recently try experimenting with crystal rocks that at least look something like the "Pebbles". This was a small, yellow crystal of some sort, that I bought in a health food store - just to see what it "sounded" like. I tried the usual places, on top of speakers and under stuff, and I didn't really care for the effect it had on my 'sound'. That is, until I placed it under my couch cushion (where it has remained). That made an improvement on the sound that I liked; enough to think about going and getting some more. But I doubt that that's due to an effect on EMI, and in that location, I know it's not controlling resonances from the components. In any case, I don't blame the manufacturers. This world is overrun by skeptics and cynics, and "We don't really know how it works so just shut up and enjoy the fact that it does" does not a great marketing slogan make.

So how do the green/red/black markers work, anyway? Shut up and enjoy them, that's how. Actually, the working hypothesis for that (partly based on years of my own experiments in the field), is even harder for the usual skeptics to swallow. Who, if I try to explain it, will be thinking that colouring the edge of a CD to affect the laser light sounds perfectly viable at this point...-.

It starts with understanding how (if not why), all objects carry active energy fields, that exhibit their own patterns. It's what gives both vinyl records and CD's their characteristic sounds; as well as every part of every audio component/thing ever made (the "energy" doesn't actually know an audio component from a jar of Shinola). You can change these patterns however, and indeed, they are changing around us all the time in subtle ways, with everything we do. These 'energy patterns' affect levels of tension within us, which in turn, affects human sense. Including sound, yes. This is why you can "greenify" a CD or LP that isn't even playing, and it will still be possible to hear an improvement in sound from doing so. And don't assume it definitely isn't going to work on the edge of a circuit board, like an SSD (though that's not something I've personally tested). It'll probably have an effect on the edge of a piece of paper. What matters most is creating patterns that improve the human sense of sound; and does not degrade it. (Easier said than done).

But don't get confused, or get stupid on me. This isn't just an explanation for "crazy/magic audio tweaks". It relates to -all- audio, as well as -everything- around us. Nor does it replace conventional (so-called "scientific") understanding of how audio and audio components work. It works alongside it, as it always has, throughout human history. You can't understand any of what I'm explaining with words, you have to try to understand as I have, with experimentation. The green pen is, IMESHO, a good place for neophytes like you (and most others here), to start. Why not. I've even seen skeptics admit they heard changes after "greening" (edge treatments).

That may be what I was experimenting on thirty years ago, but I've moved on from that. It's kind of sad, upon reflection, to see forumers talk about this tweak today from decades ago, and still laughing about it, thinking that it's bogus and doesn't work. I would like to have thought three decades into the future, the world will have progressed a bit. The green pen may have fallen out of fashion since, continuing to be held as a classic example of "audiofool lunacy" by dogmatic fools...- But unfortunately, it did have a real (if not measurable) effect, and still does. It's just that there's a million other treatments now that I can do to improve sound, that work better for my money. So I haven't bothered with green pens in ages.

Still, what's great about it, and any other avant-garde tweak, is that it doesn't much matter if CD's have gone the way of the dodo bird. You have some around, you can still improve the sound of your media streaming device, your Sonos, or your bluetooth speakers. Because, again, these things have zero effect on the sound. They simply affect the listener's ability to perceive sound. Like everything else in life.

You forgot that already, didn't you?

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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