New phono stage from SOTA

@wynpalmer4 

Now stick the Pyxi in the Acrux box and send both the Pyxi and the Acrux Pyxi to a reviewer of high astute. 😈

And, will you please get on Christan and Donna. They are supposed to be designing a tonearm.

@rauliruegas ,

You are a hard man. While I agree that we do hear with other senses this occurs with the lowest frequencies. I have not seen any evidence that we can perceive higher frequencies. I will hold judgment on the Pyxi until I have use one in my system which I expect will happen shortly. The reviewers will be positive but they will treat it like the diminutive, inexpensive unit that it is. After all, we all know something like the Pyxi could never approach the megabuck CH Precision. As an owner of a Sota turntable I am fully aware that a relatively inexpensive turntable can outperform tables costing many times more, so why not a phono stage? 

@wynpalmer4 

What you need to do next is shove the Pyxi in a bigger box with a few more knobs and buttons. Then quadruple the price and it will sound better:-) 

@rauliruegas 

Raul, all that is wonderful and very true, but bone conduction does not work through air. It works by physical contact. It is way less sensitive than air conduction with normal hearing. We use this characteristic to diagnose hearing problems with a tuning fork.  The concept of masking is used in a fantastic number of ways to deal with pain and there is no reason it can not also be used for tinnitus. I always told people with tinnitus who had trouble sleeping to run a fan in there bedroom. The constant droning sound masks the tinnitus allowing them to sleep. A device that is implanted in contact with the mastoid process emitting a high frequency sound not audible by air conduction might indeed mask the tinnitus. Given that it is a very common problem I'm sure there is a lot of money being thrown at it. 

I am still not convinced that airborne sound above 20 kHz can affect what we perceive through normal channels. 

@rauliruegas 

Raul, I am not arguing that other tissues besides ears can sense sound. There is a video of a fellow who is deaf as a door knob who listens to his system daily. He says he can "feel" the music. My only point of contention is at what frequency this occurs at. Most of us can easily sense bass below 250 Hz. But, our sensitivity would decline as frequency rises. People who have lost their hearing would be much more sensitive because when one sense is lost the others are heightened. As far as how high is concerned I do not know. The papers you reference are nowhere near substantial enough. We are not radio receivers or bats. 200 kHz even at insane volumes is highly unlikely. Our nervous systems are not fast enough to register that and our structures are too large to resonate at those that frequency. Electrical signals travel down neurons at 350 feet per second. That is a snails pace. The only way our brains can function the way they do is the distances are small and the number of transistors (synapses) is insanely high.

@rauliruegas 

winning or losing has nothing to do with it Raul. This is a conversation trying to determine the way things work on a rational basis. We are forced into making assumptions about certain things. That humans can sense sound by mechanisms other than the normal auditory pathways is not in doubt. That it affects the way we listen is obvious. Some crazy fools like me surround themselves in subwoofers powered by huge amplifiers just so we can have that effect. Given the variability of human traits and associated issues like a hearing deficit. We vary in our ability to do this and at what frequency. Certainly the visceral sensation of music adds to our enjoyment. There is audible, by whatever means and inaudible. It is hard to know what you are missing.