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
It is a well bounded case.
For sure you are right...

I am more interested by the philosophical implications thats all...But i give to you that what you just said is very clear....It is a beginning...


But still, most of the claims are made by very specific people, i.e. manufacturers, who claim the difference is obvious and significant.

...yet often don’t bother to tell you which is the right direction in the manual. Yes any sophisticated device that cost a lot of money can be expected to come with a manual that tells you how to properly use it. Mark the direction on the wire and reference it in the manual to leave no doubt. OR maybe they don’t really know either but say they do? That’s dishonest. Even for a wire. How can you trust a company that forgets to document such an important thing as the correct direction of their directional wire?  Or worse yet outright lies to you?   Much less pay them big bucks for it?

Oh well its a free country. Do it if you must.
There are two choices. The difference is audible. The difference is not audible. The only way to know is an unbiased listening test
I agree. Absent a quantitative analytical procedure for testing audible directionality, then a well set up listening test with a substantial test group is necessary.

I'm puzzled that, with all the energy, money and time put into the audio cable market, there is still not yet a substantial body of listening test evidence to glean even a consensus that wire or wire direction matters.

There are a lot of tech people in the audiophile world. With the money being asked for cables, why isn't there a clearer consensus that it's worthwhile? Joe saying that his Kimber fat hosepipe costing $2000 a pair only work correctly in one direction isn't a reliable basis for the rest of us to make decisions.
We should be good for at least a few more pages of impractical commentary. Meanwhile, those who want to actually learn what does or does not work in establishing a better system will do my Imbalanced System Test.  :) 


a speaker and amplifier company that does not sell wire.....yet they spend time and $ to listen and mark the various spools......

carry on....