Noise floors


I'd like to address an issue that every single audiophile experiences, that being inherent/ambient steady state noise floors. Here we spend so much effort and money on our equipment in order to lower noise floor and increase resolution, transparency, only to lose some percentage of it on relatively high ambient noise floors. By this I mean the noise generated internally by home, hvac systems and so much more, add to that external, outside the home generated noise. Measuring over many years, over large variables, lowest readings of mid 20db to highest mid 50db in my dedicated listening room, these are steady state readings, any particular system in house may activate and or outdoor generated noises, which are even more variable, may kick in raising if from here.

And so, while we can address both these internal and external generated noise floors to some extent, we can't rid ourselves entirely of them. I presume there are widely varying levels of these noise floors for each of us, and it should be accounted for in reviews or evaluations of equipment. And could be reason for trusting only long term reviews, with varying noise floor levels within one's listening room, short term listening could have taken place during time of best or worse case room noise floor.

But mostly what bothers me is, here all this effort and money spent on equipment in attempt to lower noise floor, and so much of that lost by relatively ridiculous levels of steady state and/or ambient noise. Makes one think about getting closed back headphones, or moving out to extremely remote area to home with minimal internally generated noise. To think how much better  the very system I presently have would sound in that environment!


sns

Showing 1 response by td_dayton

i agree that in the grand scheme there's very little an individual can do to lower the "noise floor." you can control resonances in your room, you can install separate power lines, you can get the greatest cables ever, blah blah blah but outside of these things you're ultimately at the mercy of your broader environment. there's only so much you can control. i agree with the people saying it's a misguided concern.

 if someone who lives in midtown manhattan can manage to put together a wonderful sounding stereo system, and i'm mad because my neighbor in the burbs runs his lawnmower outside my window once a week, then it might be time to re-evaluate my goals with this hobby. or like the OP said, simply buy some killer headphones