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
@djones51
Without controlled testing we don't really know if the difference is caused by the structure of the wire or bias of the listener.

Thanks! The structure of the wire was excluded by Self. Then only bias?
I don’t know of any tests done on audible effects of wire direction. In my very limited unscientific use I’ve never noticed any difference in RCA or speaker cable direction. XLR only goes one way and I have no desire to take the connections off and reverse them . All I use now is XLR AES3 connections. My system is all active and digital.

Thanks! The structure of the wire was excluded by Self. Then only bias?

IMO bias is the most likely reason. 
@djones51
IMO bias is the most likely reason.
Do you doubt the accuracy of the measurements taken by Self or...?
@Mahgister, I will probably never read all of these Gestalt dedicated books you suggested, much less understand them at your level. But I believe your inspired words, thank you for explanation.