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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
whart's avatar
whart
1,930 posts
 
My problem with storing records vertically has nothing to do with sonics; unlike a book, which is usually wide enough for the printing on the spine to be legible to me, trying to read the printing on the edge of a record jacket when stored in linear feet of vertical rows is mind-numbing. Of course, I don't have them well-organized and it's hard to find what i'm looking for. But, if I'm in the spirit of this thing, Geoff, maybe that's a good thing?
(PS. I am not mocking you. I live in an area outside of NYC that is filled with folks claiming to have all kinds of spiritual connections to the past, present and future. I'm just too dumb to connect on that level- I have a difficult enough time figuring out what's right in front of me sometimes. But, in keeping with my 'almost anything is possible credo,' I won't dismiss stuff out of hand based on its apparent implausibility.).
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
What wrote,

"(PS. I am not mocking you. I live in an area outside of NYC that is filled with folks claiming to have all kinds of spiritual connections to the past, present and future. I'm just too dumb to connect on that level- I have a difficult enough time figuring out what's right in front of me sometimes. But, in keeping with my 'almost anything is possible credo,' I won't dismiss stuff out of hand based on its apparent implausibility.)."

Uh, nobody is saying it's at a spiritual level or any such thing. It's not black magic, white magic, ritualism, spiritualism, new ageism, psychological, subliminal, Zen Buddhism, group hypnosis, mind control, alien technology or dualism. I will grant you it's apparent implausibility, however.

What I have in mind for your 10,000 LP collection is a huge vertical Rolodex. :-)
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
if you have confidence in your perceptions, there may be occasions where there is no rational explanation for what you hear.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
"if you have confidence in your perceptions, there may be occasions where there is no rational explanation for what you hear."

Translation: you are deluded!
raytheprinter's avatar
raytheprinter
1,232 posts
 
Not sure about magic,but I think its magical that we can capture music at all.How a music performance can go thru all that it does and come out recognizable .I know it can be explained ,,,,but to me ,still magical.Now on the other hand IMHO the things like clever clocks,pebbles,and the things that coconut audio sell are pure BS.
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