The Absurdity of it All


50-60-70 year old ears stating with certainty that what they hear is proof positive of the efficacy of analog, uber-cables, tweaks...name your favorite latest and greatest audio "advancement." How many rock concerts under the bridge? Did we ever wear ear protection with our chain saws? Believe what you will, but hearing degrades with age and use and abuse. To pontificate authority while relying on damaged goods is akin to the 65 year old golfer believing his new $300 putter is going to improve his game. And his game MAY get better, but it is the belief that matters. Everything matters, but the brain matters the most.
jpwarren58
Newbee--  Good point.  And maybe that explains an odd phenomenon with hearing aids.  You put them in; you hear sounds you cannot hear otherwise.  But what then happens is when you take the aids out, you once again can hear those sounds. (Your notes may explain how the brain can do this--likely by associating those low frequencies with the ones the hearing aids demonstrate to the dumb-ass brain are missing.)
Sounds to me like a standard existential crisis. If we were to look at the process of ‘hearing’ music, and try to find the most ‘repeatable’ method of doing so, no matter the subject, the first thing to remove from the picture would be the brain. Too much experience coloring the sound. Next would be the ears, then air, then walls, then speakers. The problem is that once you have removed these things, there is no ‘hearing’ left.


Correct.   
https://youtu.be/5FELdBsixGg?t=115
I am 61 and get my hearing checked as part of my annual physical. The nurses always comment that my results are comparable to a teenager. I am one of those that claims to hear a difference between stock power cables and speaker cables. I can’t tell you what you can hear, but I can hear a difference. Isn’t that what really matters?  There is no wrong or right. 

tomic601
8,049 posts
04-21-2021 12:32am
I will ask my 19
year old wife for a second opinion on the directionality of wire......

hoping Google translator will help...

I'm reminded of a Rodney Dangerfield joke when said he'd needed a second opinion and was told he was also ugly.


04-20-2021 10:19am


"Point being to encourage more humility and less dogmatism. "

Right. So, what is more dogmatic? Saying trust your own ears, let them tell you what you hear, on your own system in your own room using your own judgement combined with years of experience figuring what kind of sound you like and knowing how to attain that? Or is it the measurement pushers? If there is no measurement difference then there is no difference?I can't see how saying "try it, see if you like it"  is dogmatic. Saying "Why would I try it, it doesn't measure any different" is considerably more so.And the naysayers who have not tried, and who use some kind of "science" to justify their closed minded beliefs? Do you need the sugar content of two different Granny Smith apples to know they taste different?

Dogmatic...

I recently finished building a heavy plinth Lenco L70. Last week when I put it into my system, I put it quickly on some large half round sorbothane "bits". (Have not yet decided if I'm using springs, roller blocks or some kind of pod) After doing my tonearm set up, I was finally able to actually listen to the TT. Was lacking in dynamics. Pulled the sorbothane and replaced with some spikes I fabricated quickly using baltic birch, steel spikes and aluminum bases. Huge difference.

Old ears?

I can hear the second hand of my watch sweep through my pillow.

And I know what to listen for in my system.

Perhaps, you should consider approaching this subject with a bit more humility...



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