Do equipment stands have an impact on electronics?

Ralph, do you know about nulling? It reveals everything that differs between two signals, including stuff you might not even think to look for. Nulling has been used since at least the 1940s (early HP distortion analyzers), so if there were some unknown aspect of audio beyond distortion and hum and aliasing etc, it would have been revealed years ago by nulling. That’s the gist of the project I’m working on that I described in my first of the two deleted posts. :->)

As for innovation, that’s more to do with better ways to solve old problems such as loudspeaker design, less battery consumption, making HD TV screens cheaper to manufacture etc. There’s not much "new" in audio science itself, though lossy compression (MP3, AAC) is fairly recent.

I’ll email you about my project because I imagine you’ll find it interesting. And maybe you’ll be around for a phone call over the holiday "dead" week between Xmas and New Years? I'm sure we do in fact agree on 90+ percent of this stuff!

It was David Hafler (I believe) who proposed the "null" test for power amplifiers. Once an amplifier so tested produced zero sound, it would ipso facto be producing zero audible distortion, for any audible artifacts produced by an amp in a null test would be, by definition, distortion. Hafler put on demonstrations of his then current (late 80’s?) amplifier, in which the amp produced no sound when nulled. The test, and Hafler’s claims regarding the threshold of distortion audibility, was covered in both Stereophile Magazine and TAS at the time.

^^^ Yes, exactly. And nulling can be used in many other interesting and creative ways. The device I'm currently developing can measure distortion down to extremely low levels, and it can even use music as a test signal. It can also compare two wires to see how they differ. So you could compare the $3 RCA wire that comes free with every CD player versus a $2,000 "interconnect" and see how similar they are. If they null to below -100 dB then you know both wires must sound identical no matter what the vendors claim. Pretty neat, eh?!

ethan_winer
^^^ Yes, exactly. And nulling can be used in many other interesting and creative ways. The device I’m currently developing can measure distortion down to extremely low levels, and it can even use music as a test signal. It can also compare two wires to see how they differ. So you could compare the $3 RCA wire that comes free with every CD player versus a $2,000 "interconnect" and see how similar they are. If they null to below -100 dB then you know both wires must sound identical no matter what the vendors claim. Pretty neat, eh?!

Geez, Louise. Didn’t you get the memo, Nathan? Things that measure the same often don’t sound the same. At least in the audiophile world. One assumes you’re from the bullet headed Audio Review dude’s school of thought, the one from back in the 80s who said exactly what you just said. It’s just another example of what separates Mid Fi from the high end. You want some examples of things that measure the same and sound different, you say? Capacitors, cables, power cords, power cord conmectors, resisitors, speakers, CD players, stereo cartridges, amplifiers, preamplifiers. Even electron tubes that measure and have the same military spec sound different. Imagine that. Everything sounds different. Cones sound different. Isolation stands sound different. Even one with the SAME measured resonant frequency. Follow?

Geez, even TVs that measure the same look different. Or are you blind too?

12-21-2016 1:39pm
Nathan Winer: Ralph, I absolutely do not think I know everything. I do think that everything that affects audio fidelity is known, and so there’s no mystery, but I know very well that I don’t know everything. A list of just what I know that I don’t know would be pretty long. Then there’s the stuff I don’t even know that I don’t know. That said, if you think people like cockrum and kait have anything to offer that will increase my knowledge of audio, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

to which atmasphere responded,

"Regarding kait, I invite you to reread some of my prior comments that were directed at you; you should already know I don’t take him seriously."

The feeling’s mutual, big guy but I know where you’re coming from. You’ve just remained in the past a little too long and haven’t quite caught up with reality. No biggie as far as I’m concerned. The fact that you actually take Nathan seriously speaks volumes.

With all due respect,

geoff kait
Machina Dynamica