2. misc-audio
  3. 168100-1853

Noise floors

I'd like to address an issue that every single audiophile experiences, that being inherent/ambient steady state noise floors. Here we spend so much effort and money on our equipment in order to lower noise floor and increase resolution, transparency, only to lose some percentage of it on relatively high ambient noise floors. By this I mean the noise generated internally by home, hvac systems and so much more, add to that external, outside the home generated noise. Measuring over many years, over large variables, lowest readings of mid 20db to highest mid 50db in my dedicated listening room, these are steady state readings, any particular system in house may activate and or outdoor generated noises, which are even more variable, may kick in raising if from here.

And so, while we can address both these internal and external generated noise floors to some extent, we can't rid ourselves entirely of them. I presume there are widely varying levels of these noise floors for each of us, and it should be accounted for in reviews or evaluations of equipment. And could be reason for trusting only long term reviews, with varying noise floor levels within one's listening room, short term listening could have taken place during time of best or worse case room noise floor.

But mostly what bothers me is, here all this effort and money spent on equipment in attempt to lower noise floor, and so much of that lost by relatively ridiculous levels of steady state and/or ambient noise. Makes one think about getting closed back headphones, or moving out to extremely remote area to home with minimal internally generated noise. To think how much better  the very system I presently have would sound in that environment!


sns
ghdprentice
6,358 posts
 
@artemus_5 ‘

Time to wake up. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Once again I really wish more could come and hear for themselves. It would be so much easier than having to explain over and over again how off base so many of these questions are.

Whatever it is you are calling the noise floor, if you think having it be dead quiet to the point you can't hear anything even with your ear up to a driver, mine ain't that. At a good listening level you can clearly hear the noise floor from the listening chair. Then the needle drops and the groove noise is even louder. So loud you forget all about the noise floor. Groove noise is the new noise floor.

Then the music starts and within a few minutes you are wondering what in the world you were thinking. The music seems to come from an absolute black background, so that when someone stops singing you hear the ambient echo reverb to infinity. Many times you can hear this even without the music stopping. A singer or instrument will light up the venue, and you will hear this same ambient signature. 

This is because the noise level is a MacGuffin, a red herring, a canard. At least it is the way you are thinking of it, which is not it at all. The noise level is not all this obvious hiss and whatnot. The noise level is ringing, resonance, distortion, all interwoven into the signal.

Better components, better wire, better vibration control, better field control, all these things together lower the noise floor. But not the weak concept of the noise floor as obvious hiss, A/C, traffic and stuff, but the strong meaningful noise floor of sounds that stop and start instantaneously as they should.

Clean up your system with an everything matters approach, you will be surprised how much better the noise floor will sound even without doing a single thing to the room. Not because this other stuff doesn't matter. But because it matters a whole lot less than you think.


oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
Millercarbon gets it ...

Once the noise floor reaches a certain level, things stop being about the equipment and start being an actual performance in the room. 

Frank

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