Do equipment stands have an impact on electronics?

LOLZ. I’m surprised it took you so long to delete my post. Though it was totally deserved. But you didn’t ban me from the forum? What’s wrong with you peeps? Seriously, what’s wrong with you? :->)

What's wrong with a lot of people on this forum is they really seem like they want to push audio as far as possible- to find out how real they can make it sound (its that bit of intention that separates high end audio from mid-fi). There are a lot of opinions as a result. Sometimes there are facts too.

FWIW none of the people on this thread are moderators. The moderators seem to operate without involvement.

Ethan, if I can offer some advice and comments: First, I respect your knowledge of room treatment and for the most part, how digital works (I think is safe to say we differ as to how well it succeeds over the prior art).

The first bit of advice is this: no matter how much you know, there is always something more. If we look at all the knowledge in the universe as a pie, what we know is a tiny sliver. What we don't know and also at the same time know that we don't know it is a much larger bit. But by far the lion's share is the part where we don't know it and don't know that we don't know. That's well over 99%, and that's that part that acts as blind spots in our lives. Obviously this applies to far more than engineering!

The second bit of advice is (and I have lived this part since about 1988 or so, when everything was line command): You are far better off allowing someone else to defend you than doing it yourself. But in order for that to happen, you have to earn the respect of others. Its not easy on the web! We tend to say things that we would never say in person, and the fact of the matter is there is a live person behind each keyboard, and you don't get their respect by abusing them.

Now it happens that you and I are likely on the same page with a number of issues. From what I can make out, more than where we differ. I think the big area that we seem to differ (and this is based only on my prior experience dealing with you in the past) is that I tend to hold the viewpoint that there is still a lot that we don't know about audio (I'm of the opinion that its possible to be far more rigorous with testing than we are currently and also that the industry ignores physiological information about how we perceive sound and so is about 40 years behind as a result), whereas (and I do not mean this in any insulting way and for that matter could be dead wrong) it seems to me that you feel that everything we need to know about audio is already known and has been known for some time. Now I only say that because I've seen a number of people in the past that claim to be 'engineers' who seem to have values and attitudes very much like yours, but it could be a lack of understanding on my part so please correct me if I'm wrong.

atmasphere wrote,

"...that its possible to be far more rigorous with testing than we are currently and also that the industry ignores physiological information about how we perceive sound and so is about 40 years behind as a result), whereas (and I do not mean this in any insulting way and for that matter could be dead wrong) it seems to me that you feel that everything we need to know about audio is already known and has been known for some time."

One assumes you meant to say psychological information, not physiological information, about how we perceive sound. If not, how so?

Mr Winer -- if you had taken the time to read the full thread you would have seen discussion of test data showing the effects of vibration on jitter in CD playback. While we can have a discussion as to whether this is audible it seems there is no discussion as to whether the effect of vibration is real
http://www.industrial-electronics.com/DAQ/optical_discs_digital_data_and_vibrational_jitter_effects....

I had neglected to read that piece Folk.  Thanks for that.  I have a few thoughts.  First, the correlation between jitter and digital fidelity or musicality is murky.  From personal experience, I have owned DACs with high and low jitter and musical enjoyment does not always track with specs.  I know people argue all day about what thresholds of jitter are audible, etc and how to effectively measure it and correlate those measurements is no small matter.  Second, the findings referenced by Meitner and the author are interesting, but when crystal oscillators were embalmed in ceramic, "you could hit them with a sledge hammer and it doesn't cause any jitter."  Similarly, the author clearly demonstrated that well designed electronics were essentially impervious to vibration from the loudspeaker.  Finally, a CDP is a poor test subject for the realm of digital and vibration as it incorporates a mechanical element.  Most of us (including myself) are now streaming digital media.  It would be interesting to repeat such testing within that paradigm.

ps as a complete aside I was amused by the following in the WSJ today - if science is struggling to tell us how to brew a cup of coffee is it any surprise we have difficulty measuring the reproduction of music
http://www.wsj.com/articles/milk-or-sugar-in-your-low-viscosity-liquid-dynamic-scientists-seek-the-p...

As a coffee nut, I celebrate that particular struggle.  Counter Culture is based out of NC....

ethan_winer's profane and insulting post was thankfully deleted. It shows there's nothing to be gained by engaging with this guy.

What on earth did you say Ethan?  I missed it.  LOL.  Like incendiary, FAKE news, all contrarian behavior must be banished from public consciousness.  Shame, shame.