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
    @eagleeye7
    To verify that a difference exists, in your cable, you need an old Tuner with a meter. Don't laugh, this is a very sensitive test instrument, just follow the steps below:

First of all, I have to thank you for such an interesting example! No laughing at all, because I definitely know that the direction of the wire used as the radio antenna is just as important as the direction of the wire in the signal chain. This can be easily checked on any receiver, or better on an old tube radio, where the difference is more obvious. You can even see it on the TV if you use an old-style aerial antenna instead of a modern digital cable signal. The difference here will be noticed not only by ear, but also by eye, in case you care the difference between the image of old movies and modern digital ones.

But unfortunately this example can not prove the wire direction audibility in signal chain. The antenna picks up the RF signal, the meter also responds to the fluctuations of RF signal together with the level of rectified audible signal. There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof.

Wires definitely has preferable direction, but each attempt to explain it by means of difference in electricity signal is easily challenged if you know the ropes of radio engineering. I still cant imagine how wire direction can be explained withing physics.

With respect.
@ anton_stepichev 
 "There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof." 

I have used the technique described in my post; on Cables of my own making & find that as you so correctly state ""There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof.""  

I have found the differences in time & position (you mention) of Cables to be VERY MINOR COMPARED TO THE DIRECTIONAL EFFECT OF THAT SPECIFIC CABLE UNDER EVALUATION.  Again, the design of the cable IMHO has the greatest effect on directionality.

Try it, if You find no directional difference, or that difference is masked by the items you mention, then IMHO, one would not be able to hear directionality in that particular Cable under test with the meter based evaluation.  
 
eagleeye7

eagleeye7
Try it, if You find no directional difference, or that difference is masked by the items you mention, then IMHO, one would not be able to hear directionality in that particular Cable under test with the meter based evaluation.

I can’t try it right now, have no appropriate tuner.

Anyway I do not argue with the efficacy of your method, it certainly deserves attention. I only noticed that it is impossible to locate the exact reason of the directivity with its help. We can’t directly hear the RF signals, and even if we could, speakers can’t play them back. So we need to look for the real reason not in the RF area, that’s what I meant.

But may be we can somehow feel the RF right from the wires and other parts? Probably.. But here we are already going beyond conventional science.
All of of you need to spend some time on a psych ward just to see some brains that are really not working right. This is neuro-psychiatry leading you all around by the nose. I have said this 100 time and I will say it another 1000 if I have to. You can not depend on what you and other people hear for these type of analyses. There are hundreds of psychiatric variables you can not control this way. In order to indicate anything these types of tests have to be controlled if they are not they mean babkas.
Directional wires are audiophile stupidity of the highest order. Show me one controlled trial with an adequate number of participants that shows otherwise. The same nonsense permeates the "tweak" world.  
The .3 dB limit of human hearing is right on. I spend hours adjusting frequency response in 0.1 dB steps and in direct comparison 0.3 dB is the limit of my hearing's ability to detect changes and this is switching back and forth between different curves. 
If you really want to improve the performance of your system and learn what you are doing in the process get one of these and get down with it.
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-OmniMic-V2-Acoustic-Measurement-System-390-792