Snake Oil

Posted by: David O'Higgins on 11 January 2001

At the recent Dublin hi-fi show organised by Cloney Audio, Lars Christiansen of Nordost performed a little trick with the aid of a fluid called ECO, made by Nordost. This product is designed to remove static electricity.

Spray a small quantity on the label side of a CD, wipe it off with a lint-free cloth and play. The result is staggering. It is easily equal to a major hardware upgrade, for the equivalent of £25 !

I have found every CD to benefit, even straight from the box. I don't know yet how long the effect lasts and I may end up having to spray every time I play - but what an improvement.

Anyone tried this, or anything similar?

Posted on: 11 January 2001 by Greg Beatty

Wiping a CD with a Bounce sheet (yes - the little white sheet you use in the dryer) may well have the same effect.

- GregB

Posted on: 11 January 2001 by Naheed

David, have you any purchasing details... i'll have a go for £25.

naheed

Posted on: 11 January 2001 by John Sheridan

£25 for anti-static spray?
Most window-cleaners are anti-static and have a noticeable, if minor, effect if wiped on cds.

Posted on: 11 January 2001 by Mike Hanson

I own a Statmat, which is placed on the CD in the player. What I found is that it helps with cheaper players (like the Cambridge CD4SE and CD6), but has no discernible effect on either the CD3.5 or CDX. (I haven't tried it on the CDS2.)

After brainstorming with a number of brainy individuals, we came to the conclusion that the static could affect nearby, susceptible electronics. In the case of Naim gear, the electronics were either not nearby or not susceptible to static electricity.

Also, it only helped disks that already had a static charge. For example, if it came out of a plastic sheet in one of those storage binders, then it was more likely to help. Once it had been treated, there was no point in treating it again (until the static built up once more). Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 11 January 2001 by Arye_Gur

How comes ? the cd is free of friction.

Arie

Posted on: 12 January 2001 by David O'Higgins

I am using a CDI. So far as I can see, the better the player, the better the effect of using the Nordost ECO fluid. I am not talking of a subtle effect here - it is major. Thus it's not in the same league as the windowcleaning fluid effect described above.

I bought mine from Cloney Audio in Dublin. I suppose that any Nordost dealer could supply.

By the way, the bottle does not mention CD's at all. The purpose of the fluid is supposed to be the removal of static from cables and it is claimed that regular application to the outside of all cables in the system will make a big improvement. I have not tried this, but I am told that those who have tried it say that it works.

Posted on: 12 January 2001 by Arye_Gur

A month ago Vuk posted such a post a s a jok.

Are you seriuos about this ?

Arie

Posted on: 12 January 2001 by Martin M

I guess if the CD has a static charge on it and the player's lens is made of plastic, some mechanical movement of the lens could be induced by the revolving CD.

The Bedini clarifier is an intesting piece of kit too. It makes a small but noticeable different. I belive it bathes the disc in a strong magnetic field.

Posted on: 15 January 2001 by Vik

If you de-staticise a disk using other treatments, using a Statmat after this further improves things.

It seems to me that the bonus of a Statmat is in de-staticising the environment around the disc, rather than the disc itself.

I get very good results with Statmats (I use either one or two at the same time) on discman, Philips 765CDR and DVD player. That means improvements to picture quality as well.

For reasons unknown to me they have the tendency to make Naim CD Players sound worse. I have tried them on the CD3, CD2 and CDS1.

Vik