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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
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@djones51
This statement is flawed there is another possible conclusion well known to science that doesn’t require additional signals contained in the electrical signal. The other option? Bias, conduct a proper ABX test and see if people really confidently perceive this component of sound.

Of course, there is a bias, but let’s still assume that not all people who use special audio wires are biased. That sounds too far-fetched)
As for the tests - in order for them to be more or less indicative, in addition to the known requirements of psychophysics, it is necessary to take into account many additional factors:
1 - A person most confidently perceives the difference in the sound of wires only on his home system, the features of the sound of which he knows thoroughly. Тhis works as a Baxandall subtraction method. On an unfamiliar system, most often a person is lost, he needs some time to understand all aspects of the sound of the music of this system and still it will not be as accurate as during usual home tests.
2 - Not all systems with the same technical characteristics are able to clearly convey the difference in the reverse polarity of the wire.
3 - Of those who have not previously encountered the assessment of anomalous phenomena in audio, not all are able to immediately catch the difference, even if it is obvious to those who are pro in the topic. That is, the perception of subtle things must be brought up and nurtured, this process takes some time, sometimes years.
4 - The difference in sound is most obvious on old analog recordings - classical music and jazz, the subtleties of which are understood only by a small percentage of music lovers.
5 - On a revealing, structurally simple audio system, the wire may sound different even in the same longitudinal direction if certain rules are not followed.

The list can be continued, but I think it is not for anything. In this situation, it is almost impossible to organize tests so that they simultaneously meet the existing subjective data and strict scientific requirements. Are there any other ideas besides bias?
turnbowm
353 posts
 
Wire directionality in an alternating current (AC) application? How interesting...
dletch2
455 posts
 

turnbowm291 posts04-19-2021 12:30pmWire directionality in an alternating current (AC) application? How interesting...



If wire is directional, which in the sphere of audio is, in my kindest words, questionable, then it could only be directional for AC. DC cannot be directional.
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@turnbowm
Wire directionality in an alternating current (AC) application? How interesting...

Here it is even more interesting, if of course you are really interested in understanding.
antigrunge2
1,331 posts
 
I find it astounding that one of the most eminent cable manufacturerers makes an unambiguous case for directionality and yet all manner of pundits refute it without offering any substantive argument. This sort of thread is useless.
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