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
ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,887 posts
 
I agree with barts.100%
earlflynn's avatar
earlflynn
461 posts
 
Very interesting post and reply’s.

I live in a very quite area so I think and I am going to take some measurements tonight.

@baylinor way to make a positive out of that.
baylinor's avatar
baylinor
1,424 posts
 
Glass half empty, glass half full, count me in for the latter.
rixthetrick's avatar
rixthetrick
1,060 posts
 
Groove noise is the new noise floor.
@millercarbon
Hmmmm, yeah not really, the loudest thing is my air con, hoping it’s the loudest thing we hear between tracks on my system when I get to Washington *smirk*.
Yeah, I know, it’s what you don’t know you don’t know that’ll have that smirk wiped off your face Aussie.

Digital vs Analog (I do know I may very well be in trouble)

Lenehan vs Tekton (it will be fun)

Oh, and I have already got WAF for vinyl, if it comes to that, from the Belarusian.
realworldaudio
174 posts
 
Excellent post!
Indeed, I found that ambient noise is a terrible problem in the US. We are so used to it we don't even notice. I grew up in quieter areas and when I moved into metro Honolulu, for first five years I thought I was going crazy because I had to adapt to the high ambient noise level of the city. (And the Makiki area where I lived at that time is pretty quiet by US metro standards!)I moved out from the big city, and into a very quiet neighborhood. The daytime noise level is still quite above that of average Europe, for example - mainly because of the drywall construction here, and practically zero concern of builders to soundproof the houses. (Versus the brick or stone constructions in Europe that are excellent sound barriers - I could easily hear a mosquito across the living room at night!)
Thus, my first move was to install additional sound proofing, the triple system they use in professional theatres, cutting down 65+dB from outside noises. Big job, but well worth it! (Also, I can blast music at ANY time I want and neighbors do not hear it.)
That still leaves the noise of the appliances, etc, clock ticking on the wall. The whisper quiet ticking is not noticeable during daytime, but in the AM hours it becomes a nagging distraction.
During daytime the noise floor is in the 20s, so our talking level is in the 30s (no need to shout at the end of the day) and in the evenings it must be in the 10dB or so. There is a gigantic difference between the two, how the system sounds. I make all my amps dead quiet even on 100dB speakers, with ears to the driver cone, so get the best of both aspects. Even with that, there is a MAJOR difference when ambient noise is 20dB VS 10dB. with 20dB noise the music seems to collapse, the effect is so great!
I highly recommend for everyone to treat ambient noise as a primary concern to fix.



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