Mo' crystals

[May Belt]

Yes, without a trace of a doubt, it really is that I am hearing more. What we're trying to establish in this discussion is whether I'm hearing more due to some psycho-acoustic phenomenon, or due to some phenomenon that does not depend on the subject.

Yes, I am fully aware of the ongoing debate. This is a debate I personally have been involved in over the past 30 years.

When the sound is reported to have changed, the usual argument centres around – it must be ‘something having an effect on the audio signal travelling through the audio system’, or it must be ‘something having an effect on the room acoustics’.

Yes, obviously, some things which people do which change the sound CAN be explained under those headings, but our experiences and subsequent discoveries have shown that it can also be the human being (the listener) reacting to changes taking place in their listening environment. I am meaning here actual physical changes in the environment which trigger actual physiological (not psychological) changes in the human being (such as more tension or less tension) which can then, in turn, affect our correct resolving of all the complexities of the music.

• One event, some 28 years ago, which led Peter and I along a particular path was described in 1999 to Greg Weaver (a reviewer for the Internet audio magazine SoundStage) and in his review

• Greg Weaver's April 1999 Rainbow Foil review
• http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize041999.htm

Greg printed the majority of the description I sent to him.

I think your experiences with various crystals changing your sound might come within that area of thinking.

I.e That we (human beings) are struggling to cope in the modern environment as it is nowadays and in coping we react by going under tension (producing stress chemicals). By the things we introduce into the modern environment we can make matters worse (more tension, more stress chemicals = worse sound) or make things better (less tension, reduction of stress chemicals = better sound). In other words. With a reduction of stress chemicals possibly having an effect on the musical information being conveyed (by electro-chemicals) along the auditory nerve, more of the complex musical information can therefore reach the working memory which is then able to present a better ‘sound picture’ to the brain !!

This hypothesis would fit with your own experiences with certain crystals. That by introducing specific crystals into your listening environment they had, in turn, created conditions where your reaction was to be under less tension, therefore allowing you to resolve more of the musical information than you had been doing previously. This would also explain those instances (which you – and others - have described) when you had introduced something (or done a particular technique) and made the sound worse !!

On the different sections of Audio Asylum (Tweaks, General and Isolation Ward) variations of this argument has been discussed (argued !!) over quite a number of years. You may be aware of a few of these discussions.

Regards,
May