View Full Version : Poll: Does your system sound better when the lights are down low?
It has always seemed to me that I enjoy my music more on the winter nights when it is dark out and the room is lit only by a little desk lamp facing the wall.
Objectively the system is performing exactly the same but from a listening perspective I find that not only can I hear more into the mix but I am also emotionally connecting to the music more.
Now there may well be a host of psychological and psycho-acoustic phenomena at play here, or not. I was just wondering how many (if any) experience the same thing or if it is just me.
The Black Adder
08-09-2016, 17:41
Yup... I think a sense of disorientation in the dark makes for a great listen.
My favorite albums for the witching hour are Spritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies and KLF - Chill Out.
It's definitely a senses thang...
If you use your eyes less, then your hearing gets more acute, or so I'm told. I suppose when in bed at night, you can hear a fart from 100 yds ;)
I had a bit of trouble, as Frank Spencer would say, but poll now added. Please vote :)
If you use your eyes less, then your hearing gets more acute, or so I'm told. I suppose when in bed at night, you can hear a fart from 100 yds ;)
I thought that thing about blind people being able to hear better was just a myth? Makes sense from a logical perspective but I think I've read it isn't true at all.
dont think so... your touch improves too, ... I knew a blind lad for years and his hearing was superb as was touch etc. If it is then must just be coincedince lol. I always find things sound louder and clearer in dark. reduction of mental visual processes maybe
The Black Adder
08-09-2016, 17:52
I wonder if the quality of mains power is better at night too?
But in the winter it is dark at 1600 so early evening on peak mains usage is when you might be listening in low light. It is mostly when I listen.
I wonder if the quality of mains power is better at night too?
probably for many anyways... fewer folk using it, especially big factories trains etc.
anthonyTD
08-09-2016, 19:06
A trouble shared, is a trouble doubled!:eek:
I had a bit of trouble, as Frank Spencer would say, but poll now added. Please vote :)
My Dad was a musician, and he always closed his eyes when critically listening to music.
Which was why my mum never let us have the radio on in the car :lol:
I wonder if the quality of mains power is better at night too?
Absolutely Jo. Mains power late into the night gets better as the noise floor drops. People stop boiling kettles and watching the box etc so less hash on the mains.
It gets better from 9PM for me like clockwork.
Simon_LDT
09-09-2016, 01:41
Definitely. I believe lower lighting helps the ears focus more on where the sound is coming from (especially if the speakers are harder to locate with the eye). I also like how outside noise (traffic, people outside, etc) is down to a minimum so background noise is far lower. I tend to play my music in the day quite a lot (due to working nights) and it still sounds great but nothing compares to listening in the evening with only ambient light and much less background noise.
Light Dependant Resistor
09-09-2016, 04:42
Just wondering if WAF would be higher, or indeed lower, with listening in low light conditions or even darkness ? :D
Frazeur1
09-09-2016, 11:22
I find the best listening times for me is typically around midnight, seems the entire noise floor is much lower then, outside ambient noises, cars, people etc. are gone. I also tend to have all the lights off and enjoy how my senses become more keen. I find I am less likely to be fiddling with other things, just me and the music. It is like taking a great bath or shower in nothing but music, quite nice!
If you use your eyes less, then your hearing gets more acute, or so I'm told. I suppose when in bed at night, you can hear a fart from 100 yds ;)
If you use your eyes less and your tongue more, when in bed at night, the sensitivity of her bean becomes more acute - or so I'm told.... :eyebrows:
Marco.
My Dad was a musician, and he always closed his eyes when critically listening to music.
Which was why my mum never let us have the radio on in the car :lol:
:D
With the voting so far looks like it is overwhelming for low light listening. I've noticed at shows some exhibitors make an effort to darken the room a bit. They must think it helps, too.
Defo a mood thing! :)
Also, when listening to music late at night the ambient noise levels are significantly reduced, thus you can hear more of what's going on, plus the mains is better, simply due to less folk using/polluting it - and hi-fi systems like that.
Marco.
Defo a mood thing! :)
Also, when listening to music late at night the ambient noise levels are significantly reduced, thus you can hear more of what's going on, plus the mains is better, simply due to less folk using/polluting it - and hi-fi systems like that.
Marco.
I think this is really the key point Marco, not so much the low light thing. Try listening with low lighting or in the dark at night and then just draw the curtains in the day. I bet the night time listening sounds better.?:)
That reasoning completely ignores the fact that in Winter you can be listening at 6 o'clock in the evening, during peak demand, and it still sounds better as it is dark out and you have the lights down. It doesn't only work late at night, at least not in my experience.
As to ambient noise levels, it's a bit o/t but yesterday when I stopped in a little country village for some snap, the silence when I got out of the car was startling. I mean it is quiet where I live in the evenings, and the house is fully double-glazed, but even so it never gets that quiet that it is almost unnerving. Moving to the countryside might be an upgrade in itself.
https://www.insidescience.org/news/temporary-vision-loss-can-boost-hearing
walpurgis
11-09-2016, 09:48
Does wearing sunglasses in normal light work? :)
That reasoning completely ignores the fact that in Winter you can be listening at 6 o'clock in the evening, during peak demand, and it still sounds better as it is dark out and you have the lights down. It doesn't only work late at night, at least not in my experience.
Absolutely, so in that instance, it's simply a mood thing. The mains thing, I'd say only kicks in after midnight...
As to ambient noise levels, it's a bit o/t but yesterday when I stopped in a little country village for some snap, the silence when I got out of the car was startling. I mean it is quiet where I live in the evenings, and the house is fully double-glazed, but even so it never gets that quiet that it is almost unnerving. Moving to the countryside might be an upgrade in itself.
Indeed - and I fully agree. We're detached enough from the surrounding 'hustle and bustle' for it to be pretty much deathly silent here late at night, but in the countryside it's even more so.
However, I think by far and away the biggest contributor here is mood, so if you're the type of person who finds occupying darker environments more relaxing and comfortable, then it naturally follows that will also apply when listening to your hi-fi system :)
Marco.
walpurgis
11-09-2016, 10:23
Moving to the countryside might be an upgrade in itself.
Living in town, I just love the deep silence you experience at night in quiet countryside areas. I find it a real treat and it must be conducive to listening enjoyment.
The other thing, Martin, which may contribute towards you're 'liking it dark', and I say this with the best of intentions, is that it helps block out the surrounding mess! ;)
Honestly, mate, think about that one... A tidy room makes for a tidy mind.
For me, you have to be *truly* happy with your surrounding environment, in order to be happy with listening to your system, which occupies it, so there could be a subconscious psychological thing going on there.
In that respect, I'm pretty sure I'd never be comfortable, or consider that what I'm listening to was good, if both my system and I occupied a messy environment. Heck, I often find that my system sounds better, when I've just hoovered the floor! :eyebrows:
All in the mind, of course....
Marco.
I'm sure I read, years ago, that the thinking was that we humans had adapted over millenia so that at night our sense of hearing was enhanced, compared to daylight. Obviously, those completely lacking in this ability got eaten by dinosaurs and bears when sleeping in their caves, the pinnacle of this natural selection being the insomniac audiophile, of course :D
The other thing, Martin, which may contribute towards you're 'liking it dark', and I say this with the best of intentions, is that it helps block out the surrounding mess! ;)
Honestly, mate, think about that one...
.
LOL, according to the voting 17 other people like it dark too, they can't all be slovenly bastards ;)
The trouble with mess is that you clear it away and it just comes back again. Consequently I can't be arsed to devote too much time to it. I am out at work 10 hours a day, five days a week. My own time is too precious to be wasted with anal-retentive 'tidying up'.
walpurgis
11-09-2016, 11:43
LOL, according to the voting 17 other people like it dark too
18. I just voted. :)
LOL, according to the voting 17 other people like it dark too, they can't all be slovenly bastards...
The trouble with mess is that you clear it away and it just comes back again. Consequently I can't be arsed to devote too much time to it. I am out at work 10 hours a day, five days a week. My own time is too precious to be wasted with anal-retentive 'tidying up'.
I totally get that, but I'm almost certain that if the, let's call it 'clutter' (lol) wasn't there, and the space you were walking into everyday was rather more 'inviting', you'd enjoy both it more and your system. I honestly believe that there's something in that :)
However, I also understand your wish to relax when not working, which is why you should consider paying a cleaner to do it (I know you've got some dosh put aside for 'home refurbishments'), and perhaps start it at the weekend (or on your day off), so you can supervise and put aside what you wish to keep and what you want to chuck. Then when you've reached the point where all that's needed was a quick dust and a hoover, you could either do that yourself or keep the cleaner on to maintain the room.
But if you don't make a start sometime, it'll probably be like that a) until you move, or b) until you find a girlfriend, or c) until you croak it! ;)
Marco.
My house aint perfect by any means but i hate a dirty messy room. It would be a lot better if fitter, but i at least try lol. Get off your ass and get the house tidied.. You wont pull anything decent the way it is lad;)
But if you don't make a start sometime, it'll probably be like that a) until you move, or b) until you find a girlfriend, or c) until you croak it! ;)
Marco.
That's pretty much the plan. In any case it isn't that bad. Granted, there is a bit too much surplus hi-fi stacked about the room but otherwise it's fine in a single-bloke-gone-a bit-feral way. It's not like there is garbage on the floors or anything. I could take you to some places that would blow your mind if you think my house is a tip. I've not lived with a woman in 20 years and have no plans to do it again. And last time it was me who was the tidier of the two in any case. :)
Lol... Never say never, as long as Lindsay is living... ;)
Marco.
Ah well there is that. We'd just use her place though as it's bigger. And it's in Manhatten. I'll rent mine out to students or something.
In that respect, I'm pretty sure I'd never be comfortable, or consider that what I'm listening to was good, if both my system and I occupied a messy environment. Heck, I often find that my system sounds better, when I've just hoovered the floor! :eyebrows:
Yes, but that's just you. I'm fairly immune to environment; growing up in a noisy small house with three siblings and only one room that was warm in winter meant I pretty much had to be able to shut out distractions, which I was able to do when reading a book or doing my homework. I actually feel less comfortable in an over-tidy environment than in one that's a bit 'lived in'.
You were lucky to have a house! ... We only had a shoebox:). And were glad to have it;)
walpurgis
12-09-2016, 10:45
We had an upturned bucket, but didn't grumble. :)
Living in town, I just love the deep silence you experience at night in quiet countryside areas. I find it a real treat and it must be conducive to listening enjoyment.
I thought it was a joke when I read that you could actually hear silence until one day I was in the lake district ,starred straight ahead and experienced it . Very strange but nice.
Lawrence001
14-09-2016, 22:30
This debate reminds me of a handy tip I once read in hifi world, which was if you wear glasses (as I do) then take them off as the music will sound better. I always did this and have always believed that if you can't see properly your brain focusses on the music more. I thought they were completely barking up the wrong tree to put it down to reflections off the arms blurring the image or some such nonsense.
Spectral Morn
14-09-2016, 22:32
If you use your eyes less, then your hearing gets more acute, or so I'm told.
+1 That's the explanation.
Spectral Morn
14-09-2016, 22:35
I thought it was a joke when I read that you could actually hear silence until one day I was in the lake district ,starred straight ahead and experienced it . Very strange but nice.
Not only can one hear it, but one can feel it, a tangible presence, pressure. Only way to experience that is in an anechoic chamber. Got to experience one many years ago in the Jamo factory in Denmark, a most unsettling experience.
Spectral Morn
14-09-2016, 22:37
We had an upturned bucket, but didn't grumble. :)
Upturned bucket..... hah... you were lucky, we had a hole at the bottom of a lake.
Lake? Ha! we only had a puddle;)
jandl100
15-09-2016, 07:08
This debate reminds me of a handy tip I once read in hifi world, which was if you wear glasses (as I do) then take them off as the music will sound better. I always did this and have always believed that if you can't see properly your brain focusses on the music more. I thought they were completely barking up the wrong tree to put it down to reflections off the arms blurring the image or some such nonsense.
Curiously, I prefer the sound of my audio system with my glasses on. I've tried that several times with the same result. The sound is just a little more focused and solid.
Funny old world, innit.
But back to the OP, it sounds the same to me regardless of illumination - although I do prefer a fairly dimly lit room by most folks standard, even going so far as to remove 3 of the 4 light bulbs in the ceiling light fitting!
I voted for "sounds better when the lights are down low", not because it sounds any different at any other time of the day (I don't have neighbour problems and seem to be blessed with clean mains, though I now have a separate ring for my system), rather I will admit to 'enjoying' my system more when the lights are low.
Strange, as I don't experience the same effect if I simply close my eyes whilst listening. :scratch:
Martyn Miles
15-09-2016, 16:20
When the lights are low, I usually drop off to sleep.
Fond memories of the frequent power cuts of the 1970s? ;)
Marco.
Fond memories of the frequent power cuts of the 1970s? ;)
Marco.
I was only 5 but I still recall distinctly the power going off while we were watching the Black & White Minstrel Show. Which you might argue was a blessed relief. And then the candles being lit. All great fun as a child but for my parents and everyone else it must have been a right pain in the arse.
Arkless Electronics
15-09-2016, 17:23
I was only 5 but I still recall distinctly the power going off while we were watching the Black & White Minstrel Show. Which you might argue was a blessed relief. And then the candles being lit. All great fun as a child but for my parents and everyone else it must have been a right pain in the arse.
I remember it the same way:) Still recall me dad charging up a spare car battery when the power was on for some 12V lights he fixed up...
sitting in pub with candles and till being hand wound. getting your heat from a zippo....and a wee feel lol
if memory serves it was bottles, cans and drams only.
Haselsh1
15-09-2016, 18:03
Oh yeah, so looking forward to the next few months with the Brand X and a few glasses of whisky. I have also noticed that my system sounds different when I keep my specs on, I think it is a familiarity thing.
Electric pumps would be off I suppose. We used to have an unassisted pump for Castle Eden. The pipe to the cellar was 20 foot. Some of the more petite barmaids couldn't manage it. We didn't sell much but it was a lovely drop. I used to have a half with breakfast. :) They don't make it anymore but we went past the old brewery on the way to the last NEBO.
I was only 5 but I still recall distinctly the power going off while we were watching the Black & White Minstrel Show. Which you might argue was a blessed relief. And then the candles being lit. All great fun as a child but for my parents and everyone else it must have been a right pain in the arse.
I must have been in my late teens, but can't remember anything about the power cuts. However, my parents had lived through the Blitz, so I don't suppose the power going off now and then bothered them much.
walpurgis
15-09-2016, 22:01
I must have been in my late teens, but can't remember anything about the power cuts. However, my parents had lived through the Blitz, so I don't suppose the power going off now and then bothered them much.
I do. And the dustman's strike. The amount of refuse piled everywhere was unbelievable.
I do. And the dustman's strike. The amount of refuse piled everywhere was unbelievable.
there was a couple of those. Remember the pics of some places; mountains or trash, and rats everywhere.
Can't say I remember that, either. I mean, I know it happened and have seen the newsreel footage of it, but I have absolutely no first-hand recollection of it. Yet by then I was in my early 20s, and had been living and working in London for over a year, so it's not like I was in the back of beyond where I might have been immune to it.
walpurgis
15-09-2016, 22:12
Can't say I remember that, either. I mean, I know it happened and have seen the newsreel footage of it, but I have absolutely no first-hand recollection of it. Yet by then I was in my early 20s, and had been living and working in London for over a year, so it's not like I was in the back of beyond where I might have been immune to it.
Early onset of Alzheimers maybe? :D
Early onset of Alzheimers maybe? :D
Maybe. My sister remembers everything about our childhood, which to me is mostly a blank. And yet I have a very good memory for useless information, so I'm a whizz at pub quizzes and Trivial Pursuit.
walpurgis
15-09-2016, 22:25
I'm not so good at pub quizzes, etc. I can't do sports or TV questions.
OK on most general knowledge, science/technology and geography and so forth though (anything that requires a modicum of intelligence basically).
my sister is the family font. she has all the pictures, or most of them. my mum kept them and had names on back etc. My memory is not so good now; too slow and goes blank on occasion, but used to be good a pub quizzes
I'm not so good at pub quizzes, etc. I can't do sports or TV questions.
OK on most general knowledge, science/technology and geography and so forth though (anything that requires a modicum of intelligence basically).
Now, now, don't be elitist! ;)
It takes a "modicum of intelligence" to memorise a large amount of information, and be successfully tested on it, on any subject, sport or otherwise. You aren't automatically granted greater 'intellectual status' simply because the subject you're being quizzed on is science or geography...
That's why these days Mastermind covers a multitude of specialist subjects for its contestants. Quizzes are simply about information retention (you don't actually have to understand what you're remembering), so what that information consists of is irrelevant.
Therefore, as long as you know the correct answer to a question, that's all that counts! :)
Marco.
I was only 5 but I still recall distinctly the power going off while we were watching the Black & White Minstrel Show. Which you might argue was a blessed relief. And then the candles being lit. All great fun as a child but for my parents and everyone else it must have been a right pain in the arse.
Yup, similar memories, and also cooking dinner on a small gas camping stove, in candlelight. It was all very cosy, and I loved it, as at the time it was a big adventure! :)
Not experienced a power cut since then.
Marco.
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