"But it sounds better at night...."


A well-traveled topic that I raise yet again.  On the "are power regenerators snake oil" question, the response that has made most sense to me is: No, if you have some material issue with the power supply coming into your home.  If you live in an area with what I will call normal modern power infrastructure, and have quality components, you will probably not notice a difference.

But I live in a city, do not suspect any power problems, and feel with a pretty high degree of certainty that my system sounds better at night.  This is a common sentiment, attributed to more activity on the electrical grid during the day.  Can these two positions be reconciled?  Why DOES the system sound better at night to me and many others?


Is our perception straight-up wrong, and the result of some bias or non-auditory reason why listening at night is a better experience?

Maybe when listening at night, one average for most people, the system will have been on longer, and therefore be more warmed up?

Is our perception real, and supports the proposition that baseline electrical system usage does materially affect many systems, and you don't need a clear power "problem" to benefit from a regenerator? 

Let's rehash it all again gentlemen!
 

mathiasmingus

A. Lower background noise:

-Turning off the Refrigerator or at least the ice maker.

-Shut off the a/c or heating system

-Close all the drapes or window coverings

One person breathing will raise the noise floor by 20dB.

So be alone. 

 

As far as day vs night goes-yes better at night. Why?

Being more relaxed is a large part of it for my money.

Intake some of your favorite relaxing agent. Take a warm bath.

Empty the house. Empty your mind of all thought.

Then tell me your system really doesn't sound any better!

Perhaps asking someone who is blind might be the best test of "Is it the darkness or is it the less ambient sound? Might not confirm whether it's less electrical noise, but it would narrow it down a bit. Also, they might not hear any difference at all and it's all in our minds...which when you talk about audiophiles, that's probably true for most things...

The idea it's the alcohol or other substances seems to be on the right track.

Interesting topic. Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen Audio talked about this at one of his dealers in San Diego. He also came to the conclusion that the overall noise level was much less at night. Traffic, general daytime noise polution is much higher during daytime.