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
In my opinion, it resonates with Essien and Ansermet and can explain the importance of long tests.
Gestalt psychology was created by disciple and readers of Goethe and readers of Kant corrected by Goethe study...Especially his color theory and his morphology of plants...Which are  2 among the deepest and beautifully ever written books in all  history.... Like the "fractal objects" or Euclid geometry.....Books of art and science at the same time.... Where the observer is immersed in the things contemplated and in relation with them in an internal way and not only an external way and where the part always reflect the Whole ....... Gestalt points of concentration are born from  Goethe....

And in my opinion Goethe is in the group of the greatest geniuses in history...
He founded phenomenology BEFORE Husserl....Among other things... And he successfully wrestle with Newton in color theory.... And he goes beyond Linne and reach Darwin step by himself, whitout succombing to any mechanictic thinking ever...He is too deep to be easily understood in spite of the fact that his thinking and prose are crystal clear contrary for example to Husserl...I read it in translation some german reader can contradict me here... 😁😊

No one could underestimated the only litterary genius on par with Shakespeare and many others in other fields...

He is well known for his studies in natural science and at his death this superhuman owned the greatest indivudual samples collection of specimen in natural science.... Reducing him to be a "poet" is ridiculous even if he is on par with Shakespeare or Homer....


@djones51
What we hear when cables are reversed ? Same as when they aren't. 

Thank you for your direct opinion, I appreciate it. But hypothetically, if we assume that this difference exists for others, what do you think could be the reason for it?
Without controlled testing we don't really know if the difference is caused by the structure of the wire or bias of the listener. In determining if something is real and repeatable every parameter needs to be accounted for. 

djones51
3,810 posts
04-22-2021 1:44pm
It's what Self wrote in the article you referenced.

https://www.backtomusic.ru/audio-engineering/theory/science-and-subjectivism


Well that certainly takes my impression of him down a few notches. It is not a difficult concept. Cables are effectively a bunch of capacitors, resistors, and inductors in a series/parallel arrangement, just like any other circuit. The function from input to output is not the same as output to input, at AC frequencies. It is at DC.