This may be the wrong forum, so, if the moderator wishes to move it to a more appropriate forum, fine.
Does a laser "going bad" affect the actual sound quality? Read on.
My longterm affair CD player, an Arcam FMJ 23, has started having problems reading discs. Due to COVID, I wasn't as focused on it, but over the past year (something I just FINALLY realized), I came to see (hear) that the music didn't sound the way I expected it to (some harshness, and the high frequencies were so dull, I feared the mild COVID case I had had damaged my hearing) , and the music overall was less emotionally involving and then I consciously acknowledged to myself that the CD player had been "rejecting" (not "seeing the cd in the tray") several nearly new-condition Mercury Living Presence box set CDs for maybe the past year. When I would then turn the CD a quarter turn in the tray, sometimes it would then read it. But even then, some songs still skipped.
Since the CD player is 14 years old (I've used it as a transport with a couple of DACS, but that would have nothing to do with the CD player itself reading the CD, methinks), maybe it's losing its mojo. I've ordered a new player, but then it occurred to me to ask, would the laser issue affect the sound quality? I thought my hearing was going bad because some things I KNEW were on disc (a sneeze on a disc, as well as very low-level information) was missing. And then I noticed some Nordost ECO 3x sitting atop a tube trap, and thought, "hmmm, lets try this out; I haven't done this in ages."
WELL. THAT was certainly ear-opening. I had no recollection of static build-up being THAT significant an issue in sound. The upper midrange and highs reappeared as though I'd figuratively wiped the soundfield with Windex. And, not trusting that this was unique to my system, I sent a wet paper towel with the 3X thru the mail to a friend in a town 40 miles away (it arrived the next day) and called him two days later. He started off in a deadpan tone about applying it , so I extrapolated that he was going to say he didn't hear it - until he paused, then laughed (he likes to play tricks) and said he had used it across the faceplates of his integrated amp and CD player and the difference was spectacular. (He was the one who came up with the Windex analogy). He was shocked at how much better it sound; I was just glad it wasn't completely due to my hearing deteriorating. ( I then decided to have a hearing test, since I'm now 70, and I hadn't tested them in 4 years. Hearing's close to the same, just a slight increase in deterioration of the highs). But the music still doesn't sound the same. The tonal quality is less Kodachrome and now a bit more "grey" in tone. Other things I notice, too, even with the ECO 3X treatment, but my question remains: does the laser affect sound quality?
Does a laser "going bad" affect the actual sound quality? Read on.
My longterm affair CD player, an Arcam FMJ 23, has started having problems reading discs. Due to COVID, I wasn't as focused on it, but over the past year (something I just FINALLY realized), I came to see (hear) that the music didn't sound the way I expected it to (some harshness, and the high frequencies were so dull, I feared the mild COVID case I had had damaged my hearing) , and the music overall was less emotionally involving and then I consciously acknowledged to myself that the CD player had been "rejecting" (not "seeing the cd in the tray") several nearly new-condition Mercury Living Presence box set CDs for maybe the past year. When I would then turn the CD a quarter turn in the tray, sometimes it would then read it. But even then, some songs still skipped.
Since the CD player is 14 years old (I've used it as a transport with a couple of DACS, but that would have nothing to do with the CD player itself reading the CD, methinks), maybe it's losing its mojo. I've ordered a new player, but then it occurred to me to ask, would the laser issue affect the sound quality? I thought my hearing was going bad because some things I KNEW were on disc (a sneeze on a disc, as well as very low-level information) was missing. And then I noticed some Nordost ECO 3x sitting atop a tube trap, and thought, "hmmm, lets try this out; I haven't done this in ages."
WELL. THAT was certainly ear-opening. I had no recollection of static build-up being THAT significant an issue in sound. The upper midrange and highs reappeared as though I'd figuratively wiped the soundfield with Windex. And, not trusting that this was unique to my system, I sent a wet paper towel with the 3X thru the mail to a friend in a town 40 miles away (it arrived the next day) and called him two days later. He started off in a deadpan tone about applying it , so I extrapolated that he was going to say he didn't hear it - until he paused, then laughed (he likes to play tricks) and said he had used it across the faceplates of his integrated amp and CD player and the difference was spectacular. (He was the one who came up with the Windex analogy). He was shocked at how much better it sound; I was just glad it wasn't completely due to my hearing deteriorating. ( I then decided to have a hearing test, since I'm now 70, and I hadn't tested them in 4 years. Hearing's close to the same, just a slight increase in deterioration of the highs). But the music still doesn't sound the same. The tonal quality is less Kodachrome and now a bit more "grey" in tone. Other things I notice, too, even with the ECO 3X treatment, but my question remains: does the laser affect sound quality?
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