The cycle of sound.

WaynerN

Addicted Member
The latest Stereopile had an interesting editorial about the author's system not always sounding like it has on other days. I have experienced this myself. I have thought that the weather (barometric pressure, temperature, humidity) had an effect on playback (affecting speakers, stylus assembly), but then I also thought that there were days that my hearing was different, maybe also affected by barometric pressure, temperature, humidity.

Have any of you noticed this, have you any theories?
 
I've observed variations due to electronics warm up and humidity.

Warm up affects both garage and main systems to varying degrees. Main system affected more by amplifier bias settling which takes up to two hours to measurably stabilize. Leave digital end points and DACs up 24/7.

Humidity is a factor in main system with stats operating at high bias voltage. High humidity lowers output, sometimes significantly. I keep a dehumidifier there for that reason. Like to keep RH<55%.
 
I have too Wayne and chalk it up to a lot of the factors you mentioned. Think my aging ears are a big factor too.

But also the mysterious things in the universe at play on everything all the time..:cool:
 
Been puzzled by this for years. I'm thinking that it often comes down to my ears and my emotions. Regardless, the sound from my systems can vary dramatically from day to day. As soon as I sense that it's going to be one of "those" days, I turn everything off.

GeeDeeEmm
 
I have inflamed eustacian tubes. So sometimes, one or both will open up and the sound improves. Other times, the Treble is different on one side.
 
There was a lengthy thread on a very similar topic recently but my thread search skills suck.

The consensus was there are numerous factors that can affect the way our systems sound as well as how we hear at various times through the day.

Temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, ambient noise, stress level, voltage fluctuations and noise on the AC lines are all variables that can affect what and how your system sounds.
 
Much as I hate to admit it,I'm probably with Dave Voorhis on this. Mood is an influence, at least in my enjoyment, and possibly the way my little brain hears the music. That and humidity, barometric pressure, sun spot activity etc in no particular order . ;)
 
Yep, this year seems to be especially bad, due to the changing weather patterns in my area. Some days I can listen all day long, other days I want to trash my gear and get all new components. Glad to hear it's not just my imagination.
 
Sometimes we just crave different. It is part of our make up, and without it we would never explore, try different foods, have different clothing styles, or appreciate other people and cultures. I think we are genetically coded to look for different solutions, and this extends to what we think about our music, or systems. It extends into other parts of our life on what we purchase, but for this discussion I would say it can effect what we like for sound and equipment.

Also, I believe that not all gear sounds the same, and not all music is the perfect recording, and none of our listening rooms are the same. So at some level, some more than others, all of our systems have a personality. This means it plays better with some types of music than others, and depending on what we want to hear, it will have a different level of compatibility. So what music we are interested in hearing will play a factor in our overall evaluation of the system.

Yet this is the musings of a simple pig, so it may not mean nothing at all.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Personally, I find state of mind to have the most impact, but I wouldn't discount environmental conditions like temperature and humidity.

Agreed.

I "hear" the same thing playing guitar. Some days I think both I, and my gear, sound terrible. Other days the gear sounds great. I always sound terrible, so let's get that out of the way...

The stereo thing is similar. Some days I think I'm happy with it, other days I'm thinking how can I improve this?
 
Where I live the temperature stays pretty level.

I find that our mood plays a huge roll in how our systems or the music sounds. That's why I'm constantly saying you can't do a quick ABX of components put in a system to determine sound quality. Sure you can hear they sound different, but better? with all music? over weeks and months with many different moods?
 
Audio equipment, like everything else, is matter and matter is energy. Energy is constantly changing, even though the rate of change is too slow for us to perceive. On one level, our systems are different from day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. Entropy.

Now whether these changes on an atomic (sub atomic) level can be pecieved by listening to music is debatable, these changes occur. Nothing can ever be exactly the same as it was at another point in time.

Temperature, humidity anything different in the air will of course change the way sound waves travel. Even the most rigid enclosure, stiff cone or soft dome is not immune to expansion and contraction, moisture, etc... We can all agree and scientific fact supports a speaker in 95 degree 90% humidity will sound (function) differently than the same speaker in 40 degree 45% humidity.

There are so many factors acting on each and every part of a system and within the components themselves. The compliance for a cantilever is disintegrating, motor/ spindle bearing wear, capacitors are degrading, copper is oxidizing and so many other degradations beyond our control. Can we hear these effects? Yes, but only when we compare one extreme to the other. Not the minute changes day to day.

Simply put, though facts do support changes in function from one day to the other, what we consciously think about the sound is not what we actually hear. The ear is an amazing tool for converting sound to information. The conscious mind is notoriously bad at analyzing it.
 
Yes, I've noticed it since as far back as I remember. Never been into the WHY of things. I just find something else to do and try again at some point.

Don't experience that personally with video :dunno: .. go figure.
 
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