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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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In Reply to: Wires & Scientific Research posted by thetubeguy1954 on January 27, 2010 at 10:34:25:
Ans #1, there is nothing irrational about investigating any issue of interest.
One might ask then to who then is the idea of pursuing this irrational?
Ans#2 Heck no, unexpected aspects of measurements are often where you learn something new. Like I have said many times, the value of a computer model is only as good as it’s ability to predict what you measure in the real thing.
Ans#3 The person who bothers to ask a question or do any testing is generally at least curious, to the degree they are honest with them selves, they do not intentionally skew measurements or interpretation of the results.
The greater difficulty here is that what you wish to know is also wrapped in subjectivity, there are no words to hear or not hear like an intelligibility test, there is no presence or absence to judge like a hearing test , just that there seems to be a difference between the way two, lets say cords, sound.
Since ones mindset does have an effect on what we see and hear as a conscious reality, one would remove the expectation by confirming that the two cords still sound different when you don’t have expectations or prior knowledge.
This is the stage where the subject breaks down in the hifi world because very often the seemingly obvious difference one heard previously is greatly reduced when you go by what your ears alone tell you.
Sadly, the properties that seemed to make the difference do not return to their former glory afterward.
This makes such testing not so exciting, not such a good thing for a marketing agent like magazines.
Yet, one has to wonder what is wrong with the mindset that makes the idea of listening to two cables, intently but without knowing which was which, a heresy?
So you have two cables which sound different, now what?
The signal you use to listen to is a Voltage which changes in time, as such it can be examined in a myriad of ways.
Sounding different, means the signal has changed with respect to the original so in that realm, examining the difference between each end of say a speaker cable would show everything that happened .
The cable can change the signal itself, the cable can effect the thing driving it or the thing that is driven. It does, in an absolute sense, do all of these things.
The issue is, what is doing this and at what point would this effect be inaudible?
In other words, given the panorama of possibilities, do I care about a 10, 1, .1.01, .001 dB effect or deviation etc?
What I can say is that no one has a lock on discovery or invention, there are plenty of things that the home fiddler discovered. If you are curious, do continue to look into the technical end of things.
I had recommended a software which I am impressed with especially given the cost.
It is called ARTA, this, a good sound card or usb input and a good microphone and you can take many kinds of measurements.
It is a two port system which could be used to examine cable differences and can make a correction curve for the system cables or microphone if needed.
Best,
Tom Danley
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Follow Ups
- RE: Wires & Scientific Research - tomservo 19:21:25 01/27/10 (0)
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