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What do we hear when we change the direction of a wire?

Douglas Self wrote a devastating article about audio anomalies back in 1988. With all the necessary knowledge and measuring tools, he did not detect any supposedly audible changes in the electrical signal. Self and his colleagues were sure that they had proved the absence of anomalies in audio, but over the past 30 years, audio anomalies have not disappeared anywhere, at the same time the authority of science in the field of audio has increasingly become questioned. It's hard to believe, but science still cannot clearly answer the question of what electricity is and what sound is! (see article by A.J.Essien).

For your information: to make sure that no potentially audible changes in the electrical signal occur when we apply any "audio magic" to our gear, no super equipment is needed. The smallest step-change in amplitude that can be detected by ear is about 0.3dB for a pure tone. In more realistic situations it is 0.5 to 1.0dB'". This is about a 10% change. (Harris J.D.). At medium volume, the voltage amplitude at the output of the amplifier is approximately 10 volts, which means that the smallest audible difference in sound will be noticeable when the output voltage changes to 1 volt. Such an error is impossible not to notice even using a conventional voltmeter, but Self and his colleagues performed much more accurate measurements, including ones made directly on the music signal using Baxandall subtraction technique - they found no error even at this highest level.

As a result, we are faced with an apparently unsolvable problem: those of us who do not hear the sound of wires, relying on the authority of scientists, claim that audio anomalies are BS. However, people who confidently perceive this component of sound are forced to make another, the only possible conclusion in this situation: the electrical and acoustic signals contain some additional signal(s) that are still unknown to science, and which we perceive with a certain sixth sense.

If there are no electrical changes in the signal, then there are no acoustic changes, respectively, hearing does not participate in the perception of anomalies. What other options can there be?

Regards.
anton_stepichev
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Hi ted_denney and tablejockey.
Were the tests in which differences were perceived run on a blind ABX basis?  Were they repeated with multiple subjects?  Were there independent witnesses present?

If not, the experiences have zero relevance or value.


Have you ever been listening to your rig and think 'Damn. This sounds really good, much better than yesterday?'  Course you have, we all have.
Most of us just say 'Zeek, I must be in a good mood'. Or 'shouldn't have had that extra glass of wine'.  And just enjoy the temporary experience.

But some say 'My hearing and my recollection of previous auditory experiences is so 100% perfect that the only cause of the change must be that something has changed in the rig.  But nothing has changed.  So these guys invent stuff to explain their subjective perception.  Oh, that speaker cable is hanging a half-inch lower.  Perhaps someone came in at night and turned a fuse around.  The temperature is a degree warmer: must listen at 66.5 degrees.  Must be because I vacuumed the carpet this morning.  etc etc.

thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
4,363 posts
 
Seems to me this is all down to their ability to propagate this field
Propagate or propaganda?
poppsg
7 posts
 
I’m 59 and took electronics in 1979-1980 while working as an electrical apprentice . The majority of my time has been in the industrial power systems and process/ machine controls. Conductors have free electrons, gold has more than silver, which has more than copper, which has more than aluminum. Current flow , measured in amperes is as simple as free electrons moving through a conductor when voltage is applied to load. AC alternating current,  changes direction every 180 degrees. DC direct current, flows in one direction. I’m not sure I understand everything in this string of post but I do understand electricity and in no way am I disputing what anyone hears with their own ears . 
thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
4,363 posts
 
Changes direction every 180 degrees??
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@mahgister, your messages can be broken down into quotation, such a lively language. Above all you are a man of letters, need to write books, that's your calling. I see this clearly despite my poor English.
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