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Noise reduction -why the rage now ?

Is it better science ? Or more needed today with the ’surge’ of switching power supplies, smart phones and Wi-Fi routers ? Then, higher-frequencies in digital interfaces -now megahertz and gigahertz.

The problem with the "needed more today" theory is that one, listeners are hearing things they never heard before. One report is from Paul of PS Audio (on his blog) stating that a 4K power cord transformed his system. Yet he sells a Power Plant.

Two, many reports of lower noise (in the last 10 years) were in systems with linear power supplies, not switch-mode.

Three, for digital, many people were using AES/EBU or i-squared interfaces. These don’t have the noise concerns of USB.

Fourth, many people listen at night. They know better, due to the problems of a noisy day-grid.

Yet, there it is -large gains from the latest power conditioners, ground blocks and after-market power cords. To me, today’s science is much better at doing this. Along with the "need today".
jonnie22
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Yeah okay so I just asked a doc here and he made one as a kid. He's 10 years younger than me. So the intense dumbing down happened after that. 
jonnie22 OP
42 posts
 
You were hearing something else. The science says we cannot hear RF directly. But as I described above, it could be getting into the circuits and getting amplified.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I went to a Jimi Hendrix concert in MD outdoors in a thunderstorm once. He was picking up a local radio station playing a guess what? Jimi Hendrix song, was it Foxy Lady?, on his electric guitar. Hendrix held his guitar up to the microphone so everyone could hear Foxy Lady, “Thank you, thank you.”
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
You were hearing something else. The science says we cannot hear RF directly. But as I described above, it could be getting into the circuits and getting amplified.


Um, yeah, no, that's exactly what I was hearing. Its called AM radio. Amplitude Modulation. The Radio Frequency is beyond the range of hearing. But it is modulated. Do you know what that means? It means its not all the same amplitude. Volume. The frequency stays the same but the amplitude of the frequency changes.

The rheostat coil and the crystal tune the RF signal in the wire to some specific radio frequency. When this happens you do not hear the RF itself. What you hear is the modulation in the amplitude of the RF signal. That's how radio works. Its a fact. You could look it up.

Sorry OP but I only have so much patience. You need to try. At least a little. Go back and read it again. Thanks!

No wait, seriously, I have to ask. How in the world can you be so arrogant as to tell me, especially after that explanation, that I did not hear what I in fact heard? From a science project designed and intended to accomplish that exact task? Without so much as a question or doubt? That is arrogance, right? Want to be sure and use the right word. Arrogant. Is there a better more apt term for it?
jonnie22 OP
42 posts
 
Well, your 10 paragraph response probably threw me off. All I’m saying is we cannot hear RF (directly), as it shoots through the air, in audio circuits.

BUT I admit, it’s still a problem as it gets conducted by all that metal (in a component). Hence my call for proper shielding of parts. Most high-end brands simply weren’t doing that...
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