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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
herman
2,215 posts
 
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.)

if you start with a flawed premise you often end up with a flawed conclusion.


anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@herman
2 files with different checksums are different, 2 files with identical checksums could be different
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_collision


Thank you for the interesting information, I take off my hat! Yes, I have to admit that the checksum is not a proof of the similarity of the files, although the probability of the match is extremely low and this is definitely not our case.

In our case it is easy to exclude any possible mistake, it’s enough to open the files in the hex editor and compare their binary code. See the screenshot https://www.backtomusic.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/hex-compare.png - the files are identical (there is an empty "Comparison results" window on the right).

This simple experiment can be carried out by anyone. I hope there are no more doubts about the identity of the files?
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
if you start with a flawed premise you often end up with a flawed conclusion.
That is certainly true.
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@andy2
I think your understanding of what is "the same" and what is "different" is too simplistic. You’re showing off of your "computer skills" seems a little too obvious.

Can you say anything on the merits of the case?
herman
2,215 posts
 
if you start with a flawed premise you often end up with a flawed conclusion.
That is certainly true.

My point was, perhaps it was obvious, the thread started with a declaration that the human ear/brain isn’t able to resolve changes below .3 dB, which is in my mind ludicrous. Perhaps in a lab with test tones, but not listening to music. We hear too many subtle changes in our systems to believe that. It reminds me of the declarations on the grossly mislabeled "Audio Science Review" where they use measurements to tell you what you can and can’t hear. He often states something to the effect that "these measured differences are inaudible." It is impossible for him to actually determine that so it is therefore a non-scientific conclusion.

The whole idea that we can use electrical measurements to definitively quantify what we hear is ludicrous. Just because there is some correlation and we can measure some parameters doesn’t mean we can quantify hearing any more than we can measure and quantify what we see, taste, smell, or touch.

Thank you for the interesting information, I take off my hat! Yes, I have to admit that the checksum is not a proof of the similarity of the files, although the probability of the match is extremely low and this is definitely not our case


yea, just when I see "indisputable proof" it kind of sets of my BS sensors. I agree  the chances that 2 audio files returning the same checksum and not being identical are so low they can be ignored.. I actually have no idea what the file debate is about, no idea how we got from wire directionality to checksums as I didn’t trudge through the whole thread. sorry


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