Similar issues were discussed at great length a couple of years ago in a thread entitled "Do You Believe In Magic?"
As I indicated in one of my posts in that thread, my background in electronic design (unrelated to audio) has taught me that many things can occur in a system that are subtle, counter-intuitive, and inherently unpredictable. One example among a great many that could be cited being effects caused by coupling of electrical noise between circuits that are ostensibly unrelated.
As I also said in that thread, however, while broad latitude should therefore be allowed for the possibility that subtle, counter-intuitive, or even unknown phenomena may be at play, the boundaries of that latitude are not infinite. There has got to be some finite boundary to the degree of absurdity of a tweak or a claimed effect beyond which a priori rejection is warranted. And beyond which assertions of the efficacy of that tweak or effect, or at least the likelihood of its having any kind of general applicability, warrant being challenged.
What is involved here is a spectrum, a continuum, of ideological positions. At one extreme are those whose minds are totally closed to any assertions which dont make sense to them. At the other extreme are those who would seem to believe that there are no finite limits to the degree of absurdity of a tweak or a claimed effect that would warrant a priori rejection or challenge.
As with most ideologies, IMO it can be expected that in most situations positions at both extremes of the spectrum are much less likely to be correct than those which are somewhere in the middle. That may seem like a cop-out, but in most things in life thats usually the bottom line, as I see it. And I see no reason why audio is any different.
IMO. Regards,
-- Al
As I indicated in one of my posts in that thread, my background in electronic design (unrelated to audio) has taught me that many things can occur in a system that are subtle, counter-intuitive, and inherently unpredictable. One example among a great many that could be cited being effects caused by coupling of electrical noise between circuits that are ostensibly unrelated.
As I also said in that thread, however, while broad latitude should therefore be allowed for the possibility that subtle, counter-intuitive, or even unknown phenomena may be at play, the boundaries of that latitude are not infinite. There has got to be some finite boundary to the degree of absurdity of a tweak or a claimed effect beyond which a priori rejection is warranted. And beyond which assertions of the efficacy of that tweak or effect, or at least the likelihood of its having any kind of general applicability, warrant being challenged.
What is involved here is a spectrum, a continuum, of ideological positions. At one extreme are those whose minds are totally closed to any assertions which dont make sense to them. At the other extreme are those who would seem to believe that there are no finite limits to the degree of absurdity of a tweak or a claimed effect that would warrant a priori rejection or challenge.
As with most ideologies, IMO it can be expected that in most situations positions at both extremes of the spectrum are much less likely to be correct than those which are somewhere in the middle. That may seem like a cop-out, but in most things in life thats usually the bottom line, as I see it. And I see no reason why audio is any different.
IMO. Regards,
-- Al