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| And it makes defectively-produced CDs playable again! | 3/12/2018 |
The mass production of compact discs can produce discs that hang up and skip. And Im talking new CDs. You might first think the laser needs cleaning on your CD player. Maybe, but its probably a bad CD, not the laser. Rather than go through the hassle of re-ordering I tried Microsmooth. One application has never failed to correct this problem. No more hanging-up or skipping. Amazing! Of course, the application also produces the sound-enhancing effects other reviews cite. The only downside is you have to put in some real rubbing elbow grease. But a tradeoff Im willing to make. A good reference CD to try it on--Poor Boy by Michael Ruff or any Bluenote RVG reissue. Ive not yet tried it on a DVD but will be treating the Bluray version of Avatar. Microsmooth is great stuff. |
JOE |
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| You now have a loyal and lifelong customer. | 10/27/2016 |
I must confess that I normally do not write reviews or provide feedback, for lack of time or laziness or both. But these products are so incredible that I feel compelled to thank you. I was very sceptical about Mikrosmooth both before and after I bought it. When I first tried it I did not rinse it off thoroughly enough and also rubbed the CD so hard that I left some tiny scratches I probably let the pad get dirty. Yet these tiny scratches did not at all affect the sound or performance; instead, the sound seemed to be significantly better. But was it really better? I have a Rega Planet and CDs normally sound great on it; so was Mikro-smooth really making the sound even better? Was I perhaps wanting to hear a difference and therefore imagining one? I could not be certain and my wife was certain I was crazy for buying Mikro-smooth in the first place. Then I thought of a way of deciding the question once and for all. I have some duplicate CDs and realized that this created the opportunity for a listening test. I asked my wife to play both a Mikro-smooth treated CD and the same CD without the treatment without telling me in what order; I would then have to guess which was which of course, I would have my back turned to the player and my eyes closed. I was prepared to be humiliated but that was not at all the outcome. During the course of several sessions, with test CDs ranging from solo violin to large orchestra and choir, I was able to hear in every case which CD had been treated with Mikro-smooth. And there was an easy way of determining this: whichever CD sounded much better was the treated one. Since overcoming my scepticism in this way, I have treated a large number of CDs and the results are always startling. To put a complete end to my wifes scepticism, I treated one of her Norah Jones CDs and her jaw dropped when the voice came alive as it never had before. How exactly does Mikro-smooth improve the sound? In general, it brings the sound several steps large steps! closer to that of live music. Voices enter the room as never before; string instruments, whether violins, cellos or guitars, have a pluck and a body that simply was not there before the Mikrosmooth treatment. In short, the change is exactly what Mapleshade describes it to be: there is truth in advertising at Mapleshade! I should add that I also tested the CDs with and without Optrix: Mikrosmooth provides the greatest improvement but Optrix does add to this improvement. Now I could not live without both. I recently bought a great turntable and was going through an analogue phase during which my CDs were collecting dust. Now thanks to these great products I am listening to all of my CDs again. The combination of a Rega Planet with the Mikrosmooth treatment is perhaps the closest one can get to analogue sound with none of the drawbacks. My Planet was of course near $1,000 while Mikro-smooth cost only $19.95! So thank you again, people of Mapleshade, you now have a loyal and lifelong customer. I just ordered some CDs and SilClear and cannot wait to receive them... |
Francisco G. |
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| Sensational and unexpected value | 10/27/2016 |
Optrix reveals some very low-level detail after using on a disc treated with MikroSmooth. It also sweetens the cymbal sounds and very high upper partials on acoustic guitars, bass and voices. I used it on Jonas Hellborgs Good People In Times of Trouble and Jimmy Brunos Midnight Blue as well as on my friend and college RYO Kawasakis solo release on Nylon Acoustic. These CDs have been uplifted to audiophile level by these two treatments alone. Sensational and unexpected value for the investment. |
Ney M. |
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| From a diehard analog fanatic | 10/27/2016 |
I recently received...bottles of MikroSmooth and Optrix. In reverse order, I have been using Optrix for years to good effect but have to say that the combination literally has transformed my CDs to a much more than just listenable level. This from a diehard analog fanatic with more than 5000 records. Probably a bigger difference than going from the CD to SACD track on a dual layer disc. I have been using Optrix for years to good effect but have to say that the combination literally has transformed my CDs that have now been double treated, of course!! to a much more than just listenable level this from a diehard analog fanatic with more than 5000 records - probably a bigger difference than going from the CD to SACD track on a dual layer disc. |
Ken B. |
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| immediately noticed an across the board improvement | 10/27/2016 |
I tried your Mikro-Smooth after reading about it in your catalog. At such an inexpensive price, I figured what could I lose? So, I bought some and tried it on a few of my favorite CDs here at home. I immediately noticed an across the board improvement in the sound quality of these discs. I am a professional recording engineer and I do a lot of recording direct to CD-R. Reading how Pierre was treating his master CDs with it, I decided I would use the Mikro-Smooth to polish some blank CD-Rs before recording a local community orchestra. When I got home and played these CDs back on my reference system, I was hooked. The next project I worked on was mixing the Cast In Bronze CD Best Day Ever. I tried an experiment. I mixed a song to an untreated CD-R. Then I used some Mikro-Smooth to polish it. I then re-recorded the same mix to the same, but now treated CD. This would give me 2 mixes to listen to - one recorded without the treatment and one recorded with it. When I played both of these mixes for the producer, Rick Hall, and the artist, Master Carilloneur Frank DellaPenna they do not consider themselves as audiophiles, they noticed the differences right away. We immediately decided that all the mixes for that CD would be recorded on Mikro-Smooth treated CD-Rs. When I took the final mixes to be mastered, I brought along the experimental CD. When I played the untreated and treated for the mastering engineer who is a fellow audiophile, he agreed that the Mikro Smooth treated mix was much better. We mastered the entire project to yet more Mikro-Smooth CD-Rs. He was so impressed that he started using the stuff himself and recommends it to his other clients. Not too long afterwards, I purchased some Optrix. Once again, I figured at the price, I could easily give it a try. The improvement was, once again, obvious. Since then, I have not recorded, mixed or mastered a project to a CD-R that has not been treated with Mikro-Smooth and Optrix. On top of that, I wont play a CD for pleasure here at home that I havent treated with these wonderful products. Thanks!!! |
Christopher |
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| THE most cost-effective upgrade you can make. | 10/27/2016 |
Amazing!! Simply amazing!! THE most cost-effective upgrade you can make. For the same price as one new cd you can treat all your cds. I was skeptical of this product at first until I heard the first few seconds of the disc I had just treated. The sound stage opened up and everything made more detail. This little tweak had done more for my system than anything else. Like Mapleshade says it is like taking blankets off your speakers. Dont hesitate, buy it now. You will be a believer for life, I know I am. |
Justin |
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| Reviewed with favorable results | 10/27/2016 |
Audio Syndrome, an NYC - Long Island audio club, reviewed your MikroSmooth along with Auric Illuminator with very favorable results. The music genres tried with MikroSmooth included classical, classic jazz, modern jazz, blues and rock-n-roll. On every disc and selection played, every club member could tell which CD was treated with MikroSmooth and which identical disc was not. The consensus agreed that your product improved the sound of each disc. Some of the comments included It sounded much smoother, It has better depth, Its nicer to listen to. To sum it up, it appears that your MikroSmooth product helps to clear much of the digital haze to produce audiophile-type sound. There were many skeptics before our meeting but none after. - Pete Grzybowski, Audio Syndrome |
- Pete G., NY |
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| Quite a sensational upgrade for the money. | 10/27/2016 |
I am a professional musician performing internationally and with two award-winning/nominated releases to date. My field is jazz and contemporary Brazilian classical I am originally from Brazil. I just tried MikroSmooth on Jimmy Brunos Midnight Blue and I had to do a few double takes toward my speakers, as I noticed right away a very clear and marked unveiling of an amazing amount of detail in the cymbals and hi hat as well as a more physical presence in the low B string of Gerald Weazleys electric bass. The sax sounds more present but now I can also hear that it was not miked as well as the drums and guitar or perhaps it was equalized poorly at mixdown. You can also hear a lot more overtones in the piano chords 30 feet away from my system which is in another room! So not only will you be able to enjoy a well-engineered CD but you will also be made more aware of any poor microphone placement and /or choices as everything is now revealed with much more implacable clarity. Quite a sensational upgrade for the money. You have to get this if you have trained or sensitive ears! |
Ney M. |
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| Im hearing things on discs I never knew were there | 10/27/2016 |
I would like to comment on an order I placed not too long ago...I have been around high-end audio for a number of years and nothing much surprises me anymore. That is until I played your CDs. Never has my tube gear sounded better. You are to be commended for your dedication in making state of the art recordings. All other CDs pale in comparison. Another big surprise was what your MikroSmooth did to the CDs I tried it on. Im hearing things on those discs that I never knew were there. Keep up the good work- you have won over a loyal customer. |
Robert D. |
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| Icing on the cake | 10/27/2016 |
My current system is headphone based Sennheiser HD-650s, Musical Fidelity X-Can V3, Ah!NewToebe Supertoebe CD Player and I am determined to get the best out of it. To help in this quest I decided to try MikroSmooth and Optrix on my CDs expecting, at most, a very slight improvement. What I got was an improvement, all right,and it was definitely more than very slight--everything sounded smoother, but not at the expense of detail retrieval or instrumental resolution, which were actually enhanced. In particular, cymbals, chimes, etc., took on a metallic sheen that was much more like the real thing and the low end electric and acoustic bass, kick drum, etc. had more impact and natural sounding slam. These tweaks are an important and cost effective part of putting the icing on the cake. Thanks! PS--After evaluating Mikro-Smooth and Optrix I installed Tube Anchors on the 6550s in my CD player. The results were a further easily heard enhancement of the qualities listed above and another step in making that icing as tasty as possible. Thanks again! |
Rick W. |
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| Aabsolutely thrilled with the improvement. | 10/27/2016 |
I just tried MS out on 2 discs and I thought I had spent $1000 on a CD player upgrade. Vocals were smoother, bass was deeper and better defined and the overall sound was greatly improved. Ive listened to these discs 100s of times so I know the difference is real. I am absolutely thrilled with the improvement. |
Marc A. |
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| Cannot do without it! | 7/25/2013 |
This was the first Mapleshade product I tried. I took a 2 CD set of bluegrass music, treated one CD and left the other untreated. Wow! What a difference. The attack of a plucked acoustic guitar was totally transformed. Instead of using the pads to spread the stuff around, I actually use a slightly damp index finger because the pads sometimes leave little scratches. Also, while Pierre recommends using this with Optrix, it also works with Auric Illuminator or pretty much any other surface treatment. |
- Antony Alumkal, CO |
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