The Midnight Effect - Who-How?

excellent post!

Many people are so materialistic they think subjectivity and impressions are only and merely always illusions...

brainwashed as in Communist Soviet about "soul" and astral and etherical dimensions which were proven to exist by the CIA remote viewers program which is comical and tragic...☺😊

i always listened in an improved way past 22 hour...too many factors to be put on a page ...

Easier to understand:

-Fluctuations in power quality

 

More complicated/hard to understand:

- Shifting bio rythms of the human body

- Shifting etheric content, etc

When you lay off the booze and keep increasing the intensity of attention you pay towards yourself and things around you, the more complicated things in life can be perceived.

May have hit on something yesterday. 😉

Very tired, I was listening to the system, and noted that for a moment I dozed off and when I came back too, the system sounded a bit different..., maybe more articulate.

We know that, within reason, louder sounds better. Perhaps when you doze, you still are hearing the music, but your brain resets the "baseline" so that when you wake, the music now seem louder, and louder seems better.

Maybe you only need to doze for a moment to reset the brain and you are more prone to doze late at night.

Worst "listening night" I can recall recently was the night before Thanksgiving day when every kitchen in the country was cooking all manner of delights and apparently staying up late to get'er done. I couldn’t take it for long and gave up the listening chair. I have dedicated line to my equipment. Most late nights are prime listening. Live on 20 acres in the forested exurbs. I have come to call this particular phenomenon "Thanksgiving hash."

@toddalin Maybe that's part of it (volume). I do know that during longer listening sessions my tolerance and desire for higher volume increases.

I do think this 'midnight effect' exists and I'm resigned to believing it's an external power phenomenon, probably some form of electrical noise. I still don't understand how it can pass through something like a PS Audio P10, which, as I understand it, converts the incoming AC into DC, then regenerates the DC back into a precise AC waveform. I would've thought that acts as a big filter and that line noise would be eliminated. Maybe someone should tag Paul McGowan at PS Audio. 

Assertion of this “effect” disregards the a lack of correlation between two things that are assumed to (1) be real and (2) have a cause-and-effect relationship, while neither has been experimentally demonstrated.

At the same time, nothing to tease it apart from the aforementioned phenomena of how we work, often preferring to gradually increase volume, etc.

Hence that “push-back.” 😉

Doesn’t mean the “effect” is not real, just means it’s, at best, highly suspect.

One thing that hasn’t come up is temporal variation in atmospheric pressure, with resistance purportedly reduced in the wee hours.

Why do birds call most actively in calm dawn air?…

I have studied this occurrence in depth and it is clear the quality of the sound is directly tied to the quality of the whisky.   

My favorite listening time is late at night when it’s snowing outside. Ambient noise drops to very low levels and it is very noticeable. I’ve heard the like a switch being flipped effect you’re speaking of without snow, but the ambient noise reduction takes it to a whole new level.

@benanders 

You said: One thing that hasn’t come up is temporal variation in atmospheric pressure, with resistance purportedly reduced in the wee hours.

Why do birds call most actively in calm dawn air?…

Okay, well that’s new and interesting. Hadn’t given any thought to atmospheric pressure variation. Is that something which occurs fairly rapidly? And I suppose that the timing of it is fairly consistent. Hmmm…

@rooze 

I have noticed this with all of my systems, starting at 15 years old with a "big time" Radio Shack rig, their most expensive system (my old man thought I was nuts and fought me about it).

Even with that crappy receiver (STA-140) and Optimus 5 speakers I could tell that difference after a few hours of listening.  That was 55 years ago. 

I really don't think it had anything to do with quality electric.  Music lights up certain circuits in our brains and quiets others.  So, as you relax and release from the trauma (yes TRAUMA) of the day the music becomes better and better.

Night time is better, but I think has more to do with circadian rhythms. The less light entering your eyes also quiets circuits as your body prepares for sleep.

OK, having said all that, power does make a difference, but not as much as the above.  Really crappy power will screw things up no doubt!

YMMV

Regards,

barts

I don’t drink and I have noticed the same phenomenon. It’s like the bottom has dropped out.
I can’t explain it either.

@barts — good points. I wouldn’t disagree but I would counter slightly with the observation that a constant seems to be the hour of the day at which the effect “switches on”. I haven’t done anything remotely scientific to verify this, but it seems to happen a little after midnight, give or take a half hour or so. So regardless of whether you start a listening session at let’s say 7pm, versus starting a listening session at say 10pm, the switch-on time is the same. So things like relaxation, state of mind, biorhythms etc, would seem to be secondary causes to whatever it is that is happening.

Anyway, it’s an interesting enough phenomenon and one that adds another element of spice to the hobby.

@rvpiano  I’m glad you’ve removed alcohol as the cause, I was beginning to feel a bit self conscious!

There are only so many external influences on audio systems that work like clockwork, so it’s likely changes in electricity usage/noise causing it. Others have also reported better improving sonics from evenings to nighttime