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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
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Bryoncunningham, I think you are right about science ultimately getting it right, but also scientists have interest as well as pressure to publish. Most would not really devote time to why some cables sound better. Why quartz in some place improves music reproduction, in other harms it, and in others does nothing.

I must say that I set a pretty high standard for tweaks. A minor benefit isn't worth the trouble. I have never really understood the very unscientific notion that a panel of people using double blind 30 seconds exposures to music and having to make a same/different decision has any use for me. I have also never understood why anything other than the basic laws of electrical engineering means it must be snakeoil and therefore no one should sell or buy them.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
In the words of Wittgenstein's friend and colleague Georg Henrik von Wright: "He was of the opinion... that his ideas were generally misunderstood and distorted even by those who professed to be his disciples. He doubted he would be better understood in the future. He once said he felt as though he were writing for people who would think in a different way, breathe a different air of life, from that of present-day men."

An ordinary man has no means of deliverance. - Wm Burroughs

:-)
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
4,382 posts
 
Eve should have taken another bite of the apple so everything hence would be certain.
bryoncunningham OP
888 posts
 
Thank you, Geoff, for demonstrating my point. I was using the Beetle in the Box as a repurposed analogy. I am very well aware of its original meaning -- as an argument against Internalist theories of meaning, what Wittgenstein called "private language." I wrote about this subject extensively in the course of my PhD. Because my analogy was unclear to you, I will say the same thing plainly...

You are an obscurantist. Like all obscurantists, you have no intention of making yourself understood. Here is an example, taken from your website Machina Dynamica, about your product the Clever Little Clock:

The time signals that are captured on the recording back when it was made are out of synch with the time signals when the recording is played. Those Past Time signals are reproduced through the speakers along with the acoustic information and become entangled, integrated with Present Time signals the listener uses to time-sequence sounds and images in memory. The alien time signals from the past are perceived subconsciously by the listener as a threat, producing fear, anxiety and confusion: the fight-or-flight response inherited from his Prehistoric ancestors. That fear, anxiety and confusion reduce or distort the listener's hearing and visual acuity. The Clever Little Clock counteracts the perceived threat produced by the Past Time signals, improving the listener's hearing and vision acuity by disentangling, dis-integrating the Past Time signals from the Present Time signals in his subconscious mind.

This passage, and many more like it written by you, is an act of obscurantism. I suspect that not a single person other than you understands its meaning. It is possible that even you do not understand its meaning, because it has none.

As for the Beetle in the Box...

The box is empty.

Bryon
rx8man's avatar
rx8man
1,355 posts
 
A friend once told me "watch the magician's other hand!"
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