Why HiFi Gear Measurements Are Misleading (yes ASR talking to you…)


About 25 years ago I was inside a large room with an A-frame ceiling and large skylights, during the Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every August. This one time was like no other, for two reasons: 1) There were large, red, fragmenting streaks multiple times a minute with illuminated smoke trails, and 2) I could hear them.

Yes, each meteor produced a sizzling sound, like the sound of a frying pan.

Amazed, I Googled this phenomena and found that many people reported hearing this same sizzling sound associated with meteors streaking across the sky. In response, scientists and astrophysicists said it was all in our heads. That, it was totally impossible. Why? Because of the distance between the meteor and the observer. Physics does not allow sound to travel fast enough to hear the sound at the same time that the meteor streaks across the sky. Case closed.

ASR would have agreed with this sound reasoning based in elementary science.

Fast forward a few decades. The scientists were wrong. Turns out, the sound was caused by radiation emitted by the meteors, traveling at the speed of light, and interacting with metallic objects near the observer, even if the observer is indoors. Producing a sizzling sound. This was actually recorded audibly by researchers along with the recording of the radiation. You can look this up easily and listen to the recordings.

Takeaway - trust your senses! Science doesn’t always measure the right things, in the right ways, to fully explain what we are sensing. Therefore your sensory input comes first. You can try to figure out the science later.

I’m not trying to start an argument or make people upset. Just sharing an experience that reinforces my personal way of thinking. Others of course are free to trust the science over their senses. I know this bothers some but I really couldn’t be bothered by that. The folks at ASR are smart people too.

nyev

Showing 3 responses by milpai

Decades ago Peter Walker of Quad did a listening test of two amps

I have to completely agree with you here. Science and mankind have not made any progress since then. You should be given the Nobel award for this find.

anyone with measurement gear can verify my findings

Agreed. And anyone with ears can become audiophiles. Wait!! All human being have ears. But why do the non-audiophile brains not perceive the sound the way audiophiles do? I hope you will agree that ears receive the sound waves which are processed by the brain? Isn't that a question what the scientific community currently has no answers and is still researching - why each of us hear differently?

Is there a moderator in the house?

Gentle reminder that this is not ASR where you cry "mommy" and the moderator comes out and bans the poster.

someone obviously far far more qualified

A mechanic at a BMW service center also has scientific gears. He is qualified to service the car and tell what problems the car might have. But only an experienced driver can understand how a car handles and how it can perform on a race track or even on normal roads. Owning a piece of measurement gear and experiencing a drive are two separate things. Same applies to audio, which obviously you will not agree. But yes, there are some mechanics that have passion for driving.

@thespeakerdude ,

I have asked the the ASR admin about the brain interpreting the sound waves question and he has managed to dodge the question before. You can go and check the previous discussions from a different thread. When a person claims that "I know all that I have to know", that tells me that it is a "closed brain" which is not open to learn anything new. Search the 'Gon and you should see my interaction with him. Look - he is most likely an expert in measurements. But he is not above the scientific world which has yet to find the answers on why each human being intercept sound differently.

I think he dismisses folks who will not buy a piece of equipment once they evaluate with their ears and do not find differences with the current one. I don't want to pay my hard-earned money on something that makes no difference. Only if I find a difference will I be convinced to buy. And I don't need anyone telling me what I should like or not.