[upstateguy]

Quote:

1. A power outage takes out AC systems as well as the automatic humidity control system.
 
2. I would like to think it's my audio memory that is faulty and there is really no difference. However when I listen to a large symphonic score and hear the woodwinds coming from right above my knees, with all instruments bunched together and 3 feet away from me, I am quite sure that's not what I remembered from years of listening. In a couple of days the same passage is emanating from ear level, about 8 feet away from me and with almost visible instrumental separation. Go figure! (Call me Ishmael or call me crazy.)

 
 

 
I didn't realize you were referring to air conditioning.     Point taken.

 
Pressure can also be a factor.  High pressure areas sound one way and low pressure areas another.
 
...when I listen to a large symphonic score and hear the woodwinds coming from right above my knees, with all instruments bunched together and 3 feet away from me,...In a couple of days the same passage is emanating from ear level, about 8 feet away from me....
 
Ok, you don't like the audio memory analogy. 
 
How about this:  Maybe it's positional.
 
When you begin listening after a long time away from your system, you're sitting stiff and upright, quite agitated that the sound is hitting you in the knees and the sound stage isn't right.  After a few days, you're become more relaxed, maybe had a beer or two. You've laid back and stretched out with your feet up and now the sound is hitting you at ear level with all the associated benefits. 
 

 

[CEE TEE]

Apologies if someone has already linked to Tyll, but he measures the AKG 701 to see if there is evidence of any headphone burn-in:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/evidence-headphone-break
 
Our own One-Man Mythbuster Squad.
Quote:

Yes, whilst there is evidence to show there is burn in of speakers we don't know how much of that is audible and how much any change is actually getting used to the sound.
 
Speaker burn in is one audiophile myth that has some substance to it. Burn in of other stuff is totally unproven.
 

 

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Apologies if someone has already linked to Tyll, but he measures the AKG 701 to see if there is evidence of any headphone burn-in:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/evidence-headphone-break
 
Our own One-Man Mythbuster Squad.

Well shucks, don't leave Tyll's summary out:
 
Summary:   Did I show break-in exists? No. There are too many variables still. Was it simply movement? I don't know. If I did it again to another brand new pair would I get the same results? I don't know. If I did it to an already broken in pair would I get the same results? I don't know.
 

 

[CEE TEE]

Just happy that someone is testing the question...
 
I guess to delve further, you would need a statistically significant sample of the Q701.  
 
Then you would be interested in the fundamental resonance areas (based on the initial development study observations) plus anything unexpected that could be observed.
 
After that you would want to test other headphones to investigate further into the more significant changes- are they mostly observed in the fundamental resonances of the other drivers/headphones?
 
Then we might tackle the audibility of any swings.  They don't appear to be that large but I am still very inexperienced and don't have an idea of the level of difference that I can perceive yet...maybe Tyll could comment on the audible nature of these differences based upon his experience?
 
And, is there any correlation noticed <in any headphone> between noise/distortion anomalies and the FR?  Any audibility in any of these noise/distortion differences?

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Just happy that someone is testing the question...
 
I guess to delve further, you would need a statistically significant sample of the Q701.  
 
Then you would be interested in the fundamental resonance areas (based on the initial development study observations) plus anything unexpected that could be observed.
 
After that you would want to test other headphones to investigate further into the more significant changes- are they mostly observed in the fundamental resonances of the other drivers/headphones?
 
Then we might tackle the audibility of any swings.  They don't appear to be that large but I am still very inexperienced and don't have an idea of the level of difference that I can perceive yet...maybe Tyll could comment on the audible nature of these differences based upon his experience?
 
And, is there any correlation noticed <in any headphone> between noise/distortion anomalies and the FR?  Any audibility in any of these noise/distortion differences?

Yeah, what you said, tackle the audibility of the swings.
 

 

 

[Heidegger]

 
Quote:

 
But why depend on an object to make a subjective change; would it not make more sense just to make the adjustment in the subjective domain? 

The thing about the subjective domain, it doesn't exist independently of an outside world. And the thing about the placebo effect, expectation bias, and listening with your eyes -- when it is happening to you, you believe the improvement is real. That's precisely what makes the effect effective. But the very fact that you believe that the change is physically real means that you're going to resist any explanation that suggests that it's some kind of subjective-imaginary bias. If I'm undergoing placebo, you should expect me to reject any explanation that limits the phenomenon entirely to the subjective domain. Yet I will acknowledge that the effect might be imaginary. But, if so, what can I tell you, the imagination offers a very nice enhancement to the sound, and I'm the happier for it. 
 
 

 

[upstateguy]

Edit: see Below.
 

 

[upstateguy]

  Post Deleted.  I got trolled. 

 

[WrxSTI]

Think I'll rather afford myself real improvements than imaginatory ones, thank you very much.

 

[Audio-Omega]

We can hear whether the other person is smiling or not when talking on the phone.  Can measurement tell such difference ?

 

[xnor]

Quote:

We can hear whether the other person is smiling or not when talking on the phone.  Can measurement tell such difference ?

You can hear people smile? Laughing yes, but smiling? Do you mean the change of the pitch of the voice (which can be measured of course)?
 

 

[Audio-Omega]

Voice can sound lighter and energetic when smiling.  

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Voice can sound lighter and energetic when smiling.  

Sure, you can measure that. There are a lots of software products that can analyze voices. For example you can also analyze voice for stress to detect lies.
If you want to develop something like this on your own all you have to do is to come up with the right algorithms. Input is a simple audio file that contains the recorded voice.

 

[Audio-Omega]

Is that measurable by the gadgets used to measure headphones, cables and amplifiers ?

 

[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

Is that measurable by the gadgets used to measure headphones, cables and amplifiers ?

If you mean analog instruments and/or ADCs + software analysis, yes, without a doubt.
 
I have no clue if someone is smiling or not on the phone.  If there is in fact a real difference in how one sounds when smiling over the phone, and I can't tell, it is either because my ear/brain system isn't sensitive enough (not going to be a problem with average hearing on horrible phone lines) or I don't know what cues to listen to.
 
The same goes for analysis via instrumentation.  If we can hear it, we can measure it.  We just need to identify what differences there are, and the measuring equipment can do that quite easily.  Compare many multiple samples of "smiling" versus "not smiling" (since unlike testing audio amplification/DACs/etc. we're talking about the source signal, which is different every time when we're talking about smiling vs. not smiling when talking) and you can identify the specific sonic differences.