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I Just Don't Hear It - I wish I did

I am frustrated because I am an audiophile who cannot discern details from so many of the methods praised by other audiophiles. I joke about not having golden ears. That said, I can easily discern and appreciate good soundstage, image, balance, tone, timbre, transparency and even the synergy of a system. I am however unable to hear the improvements that result from, say a piece of Teflon tape or a $5.00 item from the plumbing aisle at Home Depot. Furthermore, I think it is grossly unfair that I must pay in multiples of one hundred, or even one thousand just to gain relatively slight improvements in transparency, detail, timbre soundstage, etc., when other audiophiles can gain the same level of details from a ten dollar tweak. In an effort to sooth my frustration, I tell myself that my fellow audiophiles are experiencing a placebo effect of some sort. Does anyone else struggle to hear….no wait; does anyone else struggle to comprehend how someone else can hear the perceived benefits gained by the inclusion of any number of highly touted tweaks/gimmicks (brass screws, copper couplers, Teflon tape, maple hardwood, racquet balls, etc.) I mean, the claims are that these methods actually result in improved soundstage, image, detail (“blacker backgrounds”), clarity, bass definition, etc.
Am I alone in my frustration here?
2chnlben

Showing 7 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
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Don't worry some people are more susceptible to the power of suggestion that is all.
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shadorne
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2Chlnben,

I spend hours to A/B stuff. I guess I have tin ears like yourself. I try to use a remote to control what I am listening to without having to move. I also use a meter to carefuly match volume levels for comparisons.

My experience is that it is easy to hear a difference but it is very hard to ensure the difference is not simply down to head position, volume level or from a different focus or attention that one inevitably places on the music as one repeats a track or a combination of all of these.

Some differences are distinctly audible. Four corner tri-traps was definitely audible at the listening position (with careful listening) and extremely obvious as you aproach the traps (in the room corners which is not a normal listening position but confirms they do something)

Differences between Benchmark DAC1 and an ordinary CD player were not clearly evident to a friend of mine but they were to me (once I knew what to listen for I could identify which was which). Nevertheless the difference was small compared to the effects of a room or speaker.

I'd recommend Alton Everests "Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals" for those who want to hone their skills.
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shadorne
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Shadorne, the comment you quoted was regarding putting speaker cables on risers, not putting the speakers on risers.

Oops my bad. I retract my statement then. There is indeed no strong reason to use cable elevators in that there is no credible science behind this concept. Insulated elevators are used for uninsulated power wires in free air as it is cheaper than insulating the wires. These are designed to prevent the bare wires shorting to ground. In some cases they have intricate shapes so that the path length (over the surface)to ground is long (this can help when it is wet or raining or the piece becomes dusty/dirty). Of course if it looks cool, keeps wires off the carpet where they can be damaged by traffic and for those that like it - then by all means go for it but it would be an odd situation that would create audible effects from this procedure.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
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“You wouldn’t believe what putting my speaker cables on risers did…it opened the entire soundstage up, the background is so much blacker, I can hear new details…” - thing!

Be careful here - many speakers are badly designed. The cabinets waffle around like a washboard. The crossovers create huge suckouts around the crossover frequency at different angles. So that a few inches of height difference or a slightly different tilt or just getting them off teh floor can make a huge difference...of course whether you use a hockey puck or a one thousand dollar cone may not be the significant factor but differences are sometimes obvious. Some speakers sound markedly different when you stand from when you sit - it can be that bad.

And of course everyone knows that stands DO MAKE a huge difference (brings things up to the right height and can change the way the omnidirectional bass interacts with the floor and celing.
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shadorne
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I really don't understand why some have to take it on themselves to be judges of what is worthwhile, what I call the Scam Police. What purpose do they serve? Certainly when some were selling worthless elixors as cures for ailments with those taking them potentially harmed, society did the right thing to band them. How are Scam Police serving society?

Ok let's pick a more relevant (to Society as a whole) than John Doe with $7,000 Speaker Cables and $3000 speakers (who is happy and in heaven with his cables nevermind that he might have actually got better sound by getting $10,000 speakers instead).

Have you heard of the consensus of Anthropogenic Global Warming? Did you know that this could have huge implications that affect taxes and legislation globally. Many scientists/experts believe that it is all a scam. IMHO, today, we really do need "Scam Police" or at least the "skeptics", more than ever.
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shadorne
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No one needs to pay any heed to you nor your willingness by self-selection to serve as a Scam Police

I quite agree - everyone is free to spend as they wish. I just report what is common thinking in science circles. Wrong they may all be, but you won't find many Engineers that can be easily convinced they could benefit from speaker cable elevators in an audio system.
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shadorne
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Nor would you be likely to find any physicists who would say there could be no effect.

I know what you mean, this is the type of argument used by the "catastrophic" Global Warming advocates - they all point out that C02 is a greenhouse gas therefore it must have an effect. This is all true but it is the relative size of the effect compared to other factors which is actually relevant. No doubt the kind of shampoo one uses might have some effect on the sound quality too.
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