Do you believe in Magic?


Audio Magic, that is.

Let's say that Magic is any effect not explainable by known physical laws. Every audiophile is familiar with debates about Audio Magic, as evidenced by endless threads about power cables.

I recently had an experience that made me question my long held skepticism about Magic. On a whim, I bought some Stillpoints ERS Fabric. I installed it in my preamp (which is filled with noisy digital circuitry) and a reclocker (also noisy) and...

Something happened. I don't know what exactly, but something. Two things in particular seemed to change... the decay of notes, and instrument timbres. Both changed for the better. But where did this change occur? In my listening room? Or in my mind?

If the change was in my listening room, then Magic exists. If the change was in my mind, then Magic does not exist.

One of the great Ideological Divides in audio is the divide between Believers and Skeptics. I honestly don't know if I'm a Believer or a Skeptic.

Do you believe in Magic?

Bryon
bryoncunningham
I doubt it's in your mind. If you listen to your system everyday as I do you can pick out even small improvement/changes. I'm a diehard skeptic but hearing is believing, believe it or not. The big test comes in the following days when you forgot about the tweak, and walk threw your music room and get stopped in your tracks , hearing something that wasn't there before, then recall making a change.
Bryon,

It isn't magic, all you did was put some shielding around your Pre. If you found an improvement, it just shows how badly designed your Pre is.

Surely the designer should have made some effort to shield noisy or sensitive components?

My experience of ERS cloth is a little goes a long way. It is very easy to kill high freq & dynamics with it.
Bryon,
Trust your ears, remove the ERS cloth and see what happens to the sound quality. At this point in audio we`re just able to 'hear' things that can`t be adequately explained or measured yet.Chadeffect`s answer makes sense to me.