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Speakerdude2000, posted at Audiogon discussion group 3/26/2004
"The Herbies mat is a clear winner. I have tried the Monster, the Audio Prism CD Blacklight mat, and the Marigo Orpheus mat. The Herbies mat gives more detail, tightens up the bottom end and adds a degree of warmth while lifting veils, not an easy task to accomplish."
Dave Pastorino, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
"I like your CD mat. Works very good!"
Helge Nylund, Veradale, Washington
"I've tried it on DVD, DVD-A and SACD. In all cases it adds a sense of space. For multichannel playback there is now a more continous field with smoother front/back pans. The tonal balance is tilted towards a warmer sound. The bass is smoother and seems to go a little deeper. The treble has a slight improvement in detail. As far as improving picture quality it seems a tad sharper, but hard to say without test patterns. If only the price could come down to around a buck I'd buy one for each disk. Great product."
Eduardo Gutierrez, Mexico City
"These days one can see many mid to high end units using the same transport, like the Philips CDM-12 and one wonders where are the benefits of a brand compared to another if the mechanism is the same.
"In my case I have a front end consisting of really well constructed and very accurate German products: an Agile Pace CD (with CDM-12) used as transport now and an Agile STEP DAC (dual Burr Brown DAC and 160000+ of capacitance memory).
"I used for the test two CD's, one from Miles Davis and the other from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the Greatest Hits album. The first CD sounds fine in general but the last one always has sounded harsh and with glare.
"At first as always it seems to be just subtle differencies but after a while you can not only hear but feel how much the sound improves.
"General benefits with Grungebuster:
- No sound glaring or that digital harshness normally associated to CD's
- Overall better constructed sound with a weighter character.
- Instruments and voices are better located over the background, better layered.
- Better focused sound
- Deeper bass
"With CD1: Background instruments are better placed and more prominent. Sax and trumpet reach very nice highs without glaring or losing focus.
"With CD2: Everything sounded better, no dgital glare or harshenes, better mid and high details while better constructed bass is present. Finally this CD was a pleasant one to hear!"
"PERSONALLY I WILL NEVER HEAR A CD WITHOUT THE CD GRUNGEBUSTER.
"And I have to try now the dampers. I am very happy and fully supportive to promote the awesome Grungebuster."
Andrew Boylan, Paris, France
"I have been trying the grungebuster and have had some positive results. The most interesting experience concerns my copy of 'The Heat' by Toni Braxton where I have always enjoyed the excellent clarity of the production and the energetic shimmer of the CD. Having only a budget CD Player (Yamaha CDX 496), I did not have great expectations. However, I now understand that I was enjoying a lot of spurious digital corruption. The music is now much more stable and more accurately portrayed. In fact, you have to rediscover the music and get out of the old 'comfort-zone.'"
Stephen Anderson, Canada
"It does everything that everyone says it does. What a surprise when I first gave it a try!"
Harry Tan, Acquitaine, France
"Received the Grungebuster, slapped it onto my favourite test/audition disc (actually a couple of them, ranging from Reference Recording's Tutti sampler to Chesky's Women of Song, as well as James Taylor's Hourglass album). In the end, I sat through all these albums and took me about 3 hours to eventually pull myself away from the system.
"I'm using the 'T' version of the Grungebuster for my CEC TL5100. I must say that it worked very well. With it, the overall presentation became smoother (yet with no loss of detail), less 'grainy' and weightier in its mid-bass and lower bass presentation (more bloom or fleshed-out perhaps) and the soundstaging is definitely widened. I do like the overall effect and I find it quite relaxing and musical.
"I also have a Statmat (not the latest CDi Blue version) and obviously I just have to compare both of them. Based on the principles with which both mats are founded upon, they obviously impart a different sonic signature whenever they are applied respectively. The Statmat presented a somewhat lighter and airier picture, with seemingly more space between instruments and singers. However, the soundstage is not as wide as the Grungebuster. Both definitely give a better sonic presentation compared to playing disc without either mat. If I was to choose between them, I would say that it would depend very much on the recording itself. Both have different positive attributes and are equally enjoyable.
"However, since I have both of them, I decided to do one last evaluation, and that is to use both of them simultaneously. I placed the Grungebuster onto CD, then the Statmat onto Grungebuster. This combination seemed to give the best of both worlds. The end result is a more realistic presentation of the music, yet without any notable digital glare or graininess. I have tweaked my system to reduce the dreaded digititis to a large extent (Level 2 Modwright modified Perpetual Technologies P-3A DAC coupled to its P-1A brother, and powered by a Monolithic P3 power plant, connected to the CEC via PS Audio XLR Xstream digital cable, various Vibrapod and DH Cone + Squares footers, after-market power cords etc), but the mats simply improved upon the smoothness (with no less musical dynamism when required) and analog-like quality of my CD playback system. In short, I like what they do very much.
"So, congratulations on the Grungebuster. It's simple but effective and I would not hesitate to recommend it to my friends when they come and listen to my system. Together with the Statmat, the combination proved to be very addictive in that the music really draws me in and just lets me enjoy it more, rather than putting on the audiophile/tweaker hat."
Len Fuller, Baldwin, New York
"The mat is definitely an improvement for my digital system."
Benoit Willemaers
"I was quite skeptical about cd-mats and such. I bought this one, to be honest, just for fun. I must confess I was a bit surprised at the first tests. On percussions, I got back a few milliseconds at the attack, making them more engaging. Some voice are also now better defined. And, cherry on the cake, guitars and strings have more 'body.' And this in a mid-fi setup (I've not more than one grand on this system). Great work!"
Robert Bryant, Sacramento, California
"The grungebuster does an excellent job of damping CD's. The resulting sound is cleaner, less smeared, more controlled and more dynamic. Voices, delicate instruments, drum transients and dynamic contrasts are more spatially accurate with this mat in place. It outperforms the 'Tuning Sheets' at a dollar per sheet, it works better than the AUREX mat (they went out of business), outperforms CD edge rubber rings, better than the old Monster Cable sound rings, more compatible than my old heavy 'bluemat,' and blows the marker pens out of the water. You'll not likely find a sonic upgrade more cost effective in your system without spending thousands as opposed to this $20 mat.
Gary Raymond, Berkeley, California
"Sounds like vinyl to me -- but without the snap, crackle, pop."
Harvey Shapiro, Skokie, Illinois
"The grungebuster CD mat does work better than any other mat I have owned."
Ron Sandoval, Sparks, Nevada
"The mat was an immediate demonstrable improvement! Even my wife who dislikes my 'test tubes' could tell. The change with the tube dampeners was more subtle, but evident on the quieter passages."
Dave Rocco, Pennsylvania
"I've been using the Grunge Buster CD pad for a week now. Impressions:
--Improvements are subtle, but important.
--Harsh edges removed, especially in the highest treble.
--Larger sound stage, laterally and depth.
--Greater listener immersion into the music and the music hall.
--Doesn't work on every CD. So far two would not play.
--Most effective on well recorded SACD's, especially Telarc DSD-recorded concert material; also effective on well-recorded PCM recordings."Using the CD mat I could increase the treble significantly, without added harshness or ear fatigue. This brought out more definition in the music. My favorite SACD, 'The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith,' previously sounded as if my speakers had a blanket (okay, maybe a sheet) thrown over them. Sound was dull, lacked focus, hard to find the instruments. But with the CD mat (and Tenderfeet) it sprang to life and is now very pleasing."
Paul Letteri, St. Neots, U.K.
"I am now several days into hearing the improvement with your cd mats. They are easy to put on. My first impression with an inexpensive stereo was, all the information was improved at least a cable upgrade. With a poor recording it can be tough hearing the extra information, but on a decent recording it is wonderful. A true inexpensive improvement, I am glad I bought two. I would tell anyone that it is the most inexpensive improvement you will ever make."
Marty Johnson, Rochester, New York
"I love how the music sounds now. To me the difference is unbelievable. More clear, more space, like notes appear out of silence."
Lon Armstrong, Austin, Texas
"I've played around with the cd mat for several days now, and they definitely DO SOMETHING. They seem an improvement to me, not a 'Look At Me' screaming improvement, but they seem to smooth out the treble a little and also open up the midrange a bit and make ambience (say the reverberance of a piano as an example) a bit more noticeable. I have to confess that comparing the mat on a cd to the cd without a mat I didn't always prefer the mat on the cd... but I mostly did. Sometimes that little bit of digital bite may be just the ticket to a trumpet or an electric guitar!
"I like mine and am glad that I ordered it."
John Protopapas, Huntington Station, New York
"I received the CD mat yesterday. I tried it out on my Rotel CD 991 and my Phillips 963SA (912K upsampling). It made a big difference in eliminating lack of sound field localization on the two players using CDs."
Alex Pineda, United States
"Oh boy, I think that mat is not a tweak it should be part of dvd transport design. It is missing link. It provides incredible sound and video enhancement. I watched movies like Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, Hulk, X-Man and I must say it is awesome experience. Picture become awesomely sharp, vivid with great color, incredible depth (superb contrast) sound is better than any cinema (not kidding). Thanks for a great product."
Jeff Deitchman, Silver Spring, Maryland
"The mat does indeed make a diff, and for the good. Seems to remove a layer of noise I wasn't aware of hearing before it disappeared. Darker background, less of an 'electrical' atmosphere in the recording, without sacrificing highs. Funny how that works."
Kyrill Goosseff, Rijswijk, The Netherlands
"Hail to your CD mat. The differences are not subtle. I already convinced my neighbour to buy one too (of course he listened first). I will post in Dutch forums your wonderful product."
Chris Clark, Winchester, Virginia
"I'm a happy owner of a Halo-9 and a grungebuster. The grungebuster in particular is jaw-dropping. I'll be giving your footers a go in the near future."
Jim Maurer, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
"Nice product. I have listened to many CDs and it improved the sound from each and every one (w/Rega Planet 2000)."
Ian Hibel, Bray Park, Australia
"I have listened to your CD mat and Tenderfeet and believe they make a difference. I hear a clearer rendition of music with both. The mat seems a little more effective in making the music more easily defined and somewhat clearer."
James Smith, New York
"So your Grungebuster is awesome!"
Rick Zuniga, Santa Ana, California
"I received your Grungebuster last week. It works like you said it would. I use it every time I play a CD."
Davide Lentini, Hong Kong
"The CD mat makes a noticeable difference on CD: here is like having a better player. The difference is even bigger on DVD playback."
Charles Powell, Sydney, Australia
"The mat is incredible. As a former plastisol chemist (in an earlier life when I got out of university) I marvelled at both the simplicity of the 'tweak' and the astonishing effects. Unbelievable! I have a heavily modified single-end triode amplifer and a similarly enhanced valve DAC and the results were 'night and day'. Am I exaggerating? Upon arrival of the mat, I did an A\B comparison with the piece of music I am most familiar with: 'Kind of Blue.' I listened to 'So What' -- in 'native form', then applying the mat. I didn't do any further A/B comparisons! The mat is now part of 'standard operating procedure' at my house."
Duster, Bellingham, Washington
"I love the CD mat. A sonic veil has been lifted as completely as one could hope for."
Randy Young, Clinton, Tennessee
"It is surprising how a little mat can make so much difference to the sound."
Christopher da Costa, California
"I have tried the rings that Monster sells and they did nothing that I could tell. Other then the Monster brand rings, I have not had any personal experience with CD mats.
"My digital front end is not the best there is, but definitely not low end nor inexpensive (Proceed CDD and DAP). I love tweaks, especially inexpensive ones, so I had to give this one a try. I dropped in a CD that I am very familiar with by Kenny G (Paradise) on the transport tray with the Grungebuster CD Mat installed. Put on track #8 'falling in the moonlight' and pressed play on the remote. Fifteen seconds into the song I was saying 'hey, I like this.'
"Ok, after about 1.5 hours of listening to CDs and tracks I am familiar with, with the Grungebuster CD Mat installed and not installed, here is what I came up with:
"Every CD I listen to from now on will have this rubbery mat on it, period. The Grungebuster CD Mat in my system is worth much more than the $25 I paid!
"I am not an audiophile literate person, but I will attempt to share with you in words what I heard. The PRAT was improved, sub frequency bass was more dynamic and seemed like it was boosted, the rough HF that I did not know was present was removed (the grunge in Grungebuster?). More fluid, better timed presentation and lack of HF glare and distortion resulted in the music being more emotional with a smoother more liquid like presentation. My two channel digital playback system sounded good before, now it is better.
"Super glad I pulled the trigger on this little gem!"
Stefano Tommesani, Parma, Italy
"I have not tried the grungebuster yet on my CD player, but I can tell you that it works in an objective way: My first-generation DVD player is very picky with DVD-R; most of them don't play or begin skipping near the end of the movie. I've applied the Grungebuster on a DVD-R that, after some annoying artifacts, used to freeze five minutes before the end of the movie, and now it plays! There are still some artifacts, but they are considerably less than before, so I can safely conclude that the Grungebuster can really improve the quality of readings in difficult conditions."
Paul Lowe, Bexley, United Kingdom
"YES OH YES OH YES!! It works a dream! There is a great deal more separation between instruments -- which is marvellous. The quiet passages are just that, totally quiet. I listen to electronic music and rock, and it's done the trick on both genres with equal ease. I can honestly say the mat will always be placed on any CD or DVD that enters the transport from now on."
Ian Simpson, Ilford, United Kingdom
"I have to say that the grungebuster I received from you far exceeded any expectations any of us had for its claimed abilities."
Vincus Bagasauckas, London, United Kingdom
"Two words is all that are needed... TOP MAN !!! Thank You, the grungebuster has made my KI marantz sound like it should 8.
Stewart Glick, Springwater, New York
"I would like to let you know that the improvement to the cd playback in my system was immediately apparent. I am using a 47 Labs Shigaraki transport and dac, which has been in my system for some time now, so I am very familiar with its sound capabilities. I am able to hear changes very quickly when I replace a particular component, so the system is quite transparent in that regard. Speakers are an older pair of Spendor LS3/5As with AB1 subs, as well as a small Rel Sub. Amplifier is a custom made gaincard clone by Scott Nixon. Wires are all 47 Labs OTA cabling. I was searching for words to describe what I heard upon using your product, but actually the name you gave it pretty much sums it up: a layer of grunge is gone from the sound. Kinda like wiping a window clean, which one may have already thought was pretty clean to begin with.
"I want to also say that I respect the fact that you are selling this mat for a very reasonable cost. There is SO much expensive hype in the audio business (I have been into this hobby for over 25 years, so I've experienced my share!), it is refreshing to do business with someone like yourself who attempts to keep things sane.
"Thanks for a great product and such friendly and expedient service."
Peter McGarvey, Takoma Park, Maryland
"I expected to hear an improvement with the record mat, as I have heard differences in rubber and felt mats. However, I was surprised at the change in sound with the the CD mat which I did not expect and was a greater change than with the record mat!
"Someone needs to engineer this vibration reduction into a CD player so I don't have to stick this on every time."
Frank Englander, Phoenix, Arizona
"The Grunge Busters work for CDs and DVDs, both tray and toploaders. Very nice improvement."
Mike Royer, Oshawa, Ontario
"Steve, you were right...it works!!!"
Bruce Strassburg, Wilson, New York
"It is the best tweak I have ever owned."
Paul Van Cleeve, San Antonio, Texas
"I tried the mat the other night and -- WOW !!! Almost analog in sound quality. Amazing!"
Dennis Pitzer, Phoenixville, PA
"I was all prepared to laugh this thing off as another one of those crazy concepts. But frankly, after listening to one song on one CD, it is clearly and without a doubt a major step forward. I understand the concept of dampening and all. In fact, I’ve got about forty pounds worth of cement block on top of my player, on top of an isolation stand. So I understand and appreciate the concept, but I never thought that dampening that little CD would have had such a dramatic impact. I want to thank you, I’m in love with the dadgum thing. I just wanted to pass on my thoughts and thank you for making such a great product."
Paul Sorat, Bangkok, Thailand
"I've got to say this sticky little mat offers a highly effective improvement to CD playback. In my system it goes a long way in reducing glare, resulting in a smoother top end. It simply makes CD's more 'analogue' sounding. In short, a great product."
Earl Thomas, Capon Bridge, West Virginia
"Damn! I waited too long to do do that! I hope its extra weight doesn't hurt my transport (Trivista). I wish it was easier to put on as well. OK done complaining. I'm sure I will get better at it in time. I quickly heard how it cleaned up the vocals on my reference recording that I know inside out. Less sybilance and more detail were quickly noticed. I really enjoy the difference. I may get a second one so I can have the next disc ready to play when the one playing is done."
Mick, Newcastle, Ireland
"The CD mat is excellent. It is much better than the ringmat version."
Arthur S., Dallas, Texas
"I've had my original version Grungebuster for about 2 years now and love what it does."
(Some comments have been edited slightly for grammar corrections and reading clarity; most are direct copy/paste.)...