Physchoacoustics and Hifi

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terrybooth
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Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by terrybooth »

This is a topic that interests me because, like all perception, listening to music is an active human event, not passive.

It looks like there's quite a healthly lot of literature and activity around this. My current interest was sparked by a story about a headphone design which 'makes perfect music'
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jlim/2016/0 ... 7bb64742d5.

I guess that awakened in me memories of the introduction of CDs which promised 'Perfect Sound Forever'.

This particular product is a combination of in-ear and over-ear design and claims to adjust the music to suit individual hearing signatures, via a microphone in the headphone. So there are a number of questions that come out of this for me:

Does it work? Well if we follow the NVA design philosophy, the answer is probably not because there's a load of 'stuff' in between the musical signal and the listener. I haven't listened to these and probably never will. Mainly because I don't get on with headphone listening.

Then there's a whole load of questions about how music reproduction 'tricks' us into reacting to the sound being reproduced as if it were real music (indeed, for most of us, reproduced music is ingrained because that's what we've grown up with, as opposed to listening to real people playing real instruments every day). So, for instance, there are articles like this http://getthatprosound.com/hacking-your ... our-music/ which seems to repeat the idea that listening is merely passive reception of external stimuli ("If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain…").

Then there's another load of stuff particularly around hifi where we appear to value (like, enjoy) elements of reproduced music which are totally unnatural. A prime example of this is 'imaging' and 'sound stage'. How often has it been commented here that this is not something you perceive when listening to real people playing real instruments - the sound is much more diffuse in a live environment, even when being put through a PA. However, how often have people commented (me included) on the sense of presence of people and instruments 'in the room' with you. What is at play here? Could it be something along the lines of because we a lacking a key stimulus (visual - the hifi doesn't look like people singing and playing instruments) that we are actually seeking aural over stimulation to make up for that?
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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by Fretless »

Interesting thoughts Terry. I would regard myself as more auditive than visual (the poor eyesight might account for that) and the quest for 'new thrills' has brought me in recent years to rediscovering familiar and much-loved recordings on a seriously-improved audio installation.

This first struck me when I got magnaplanar speakers which display the instruments as if in a painting. Cubes improve on this by adding dynamics, depth and a 3D presence. So the brain is 'fooled' into regarding aural information in visual terms.

Could this be why we audiophiles keep searching for better/more? That other areas of the brain are stimulated, emotional responses are created and we are rewarded with a feeling of pleasure?

Have to ponder further here. :think:

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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by jammy395 »

Ever listened to music in a flotation chamber......Now that is "Strange".
A sureal experience indeed.
:shock:

ps.....I dont mean yer bath tub, with the light off. :mrgreen:

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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by guydarryl »

tell us more - not about you in the bath tub with lights out by the way :-?
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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

When he is 9 sheets to the breeze on a Saturday night it is like that for him :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by Fretless »

I do have one psychoacoustic CD, 'Sound Characters' by Maryanne Amacher. I can't describe it as music - it' s more like 'synthetic noise to screw up your head'. Weird.

Apparently if you play certain sections loud enough your brain starts producing new sounds along with the recorded ones. Haven't tried that yet.

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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by jammy395 »

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote:When he is 10 sheets to the breeze on a Saturday night it is like that for him :lol: :lol: :lol:
Cmon to fuk....... :naughty:

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Re: Physchoacoustics and Hifi

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Jammy what is wrong with you we haven't had a proper Jammy night for a long time :cry:

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