Interesting article.

[Jim R.]

Yes, definitely, but again, the level and type of expectation bias is also highly variable in the population.  Optimist or pessimist? Also, and related to what Paul said, it tends to weaken or change over time and with familiarization. I've often seen people say that they expected to hear no difference but did, as well as the converse, but the first seems much more prevelant, at least in this hobby/pursuit. I always get a kick out of it when somebody tells me you hear a difference because you're expecting to, not realizing that I can say with exactly the same validity back to them that they hear no difference because they are not expecting to. Yes, it is astrange but IMO fascinating, and ultimately very human (with all it's faults and foibles) to look into any kind of pursuit where perception  dominates over logic and measurability. And for me, just one more reason I am so fascinated with the human brain.

-- Jim

[4krow]

 THIS, is a very interesting thread for me. I always knew that I was 'different' in so many ways, but hearing stood out as one of the most prominent differences. I was the kid that entered a room with a question, 'what's that sound I'm hearing?' Others could hear it, but only if the 'chose' not to ignore it. For me it was always the opposite. Then there is, 'it just sounds right'. what can I tell you? I don't have an explanation for it, and others just think that I make it up, but of course, we all know that's one of the differences between us and them. I'll not go further, for the moment, but will continue to read what others have to say that surprises me, meaning, it's not just me?

[Grainger49]

I find that no matter where I am, if there is music playing I hear it and recognize songs that I know. 

In the 70s I was accused of having "Servo ears" because when the Servo-Statics were acting up I knew it before anyone else.  Mainly because I had to be on top of a very unreliable speaker's quirks.

[4krow]

  'G',  Funny you should mention that about hearing trouble with equipment. In the old central offices, there a variety of solenoids clicking and clacking. Some of them were in a marching band kind drummer type of sequence. I could barely walk by them without stopping to hear the beat. If a solenoid was stuck or chattering, I was usually first on scene. And, don't you hear high frequencies in some places for no apparent reason? Makes you wonder.

[Grainger49]

My wife was an "Outside Plant Engineer" for South Central Bell when we met.  She ended up in management with AT&T, till if fell apart.

[4krow]

 O' Lord how things changed from the original Bell System.

   I see false memory mentioned earlier in this thread. Man, that is one of the craziest games that our brains play on us! What's the deal with that? And it happens across the board. How big things seemed when we were young, or how amazing this or that sounded. Then you go back and the memory may be completely distorted. Selective perhaps, 'error correction', I really don't understand all that mental drama and it's purpose.

[Chris]

It's like a "desensitization process"..part of our adaptive abilities "survival"...  Everything is well said, and very interesting.... I will add 2 very basic and yet powerful forces in shaping our already fine hearing abilities.... 1) is Body Chemistry, what we are , or have been lately, putting in our bodies ie. nutrients or lack thereof, too much coffee, booze, on a bad diet kick, lack of exercise, fatigue and on and on... (I am sure Jim already included these in the above Physiology category)...  2)  the often overlooked and never mentioned amount of Earwax a person CAN have.... I for one, usually have to go to an audiologist from time to time and get it removed.. When, I leave it for 2 years or so, My ear drum is completely covered over.. I can hear very well, but, the funny thing is, just how much it robs my hearing of the lower midrange and  makes me much more sensitive to high frequencies.. Many things sound a tad brighter to me and more annoying.. When, I came back from my appointment the first time, I played my system, expecting maybe nothing but a little clearer sound, but, BOY, the FULL, rich midrange that was filling the room that wasnt there before...I thought my speaks were just a little weak in that area, but NO, it was my ears....I never hear people discussing this, I just assume it must be me only..However, it surely doesnt hurt to make an appointment, If you dont do it already to an audiologist and make sure your lower ear canal is pretty wax free.... Maybe, this is a dumb post from me, but I am just making sure if anybody hasnt thought of this and has relatively plugged ears and doesnt know it... It is a CHEAP and simple upgrade to your TOTAL audio system experience.... just sayin..

[Doc B.]

A cheap and often amazing upgrade, I agree. I tend to lose top end when my ears have been waxy. Luckily it doesn't happen that often, every few years. But taking care of it is like spending $10k on great new gear.

[Chris]

Yep,  I wonder how much gear people have gotten rid of due to this. When it maybe wasnt their gear at all.. Or rejected a perfectly nice sounding product  due to this also...haha

[Loquah]

I just read this article and it's great!

Question: does a USB cable experience the same ramp up mentioned in the article and do different cables therefore have the potential to introduce jitter?

[mpeg2]

One thing that you need to keep in mind concerning USB cables is that many of the "audible" changes attributed to them are highly unlikely. Most issues like jitter and other timing things are easily taken care of by simple buffering - a long solved problem, with an easy solution. Bit errors are either corrected - or detected and result in loss of packets (if not correctible). Loss of packets results in major audio glitches - pops, dropouts and so on.

More subtle things like changes in the "character" of the music or changes in midrange level (for example) will NOT be caused by cables - as they would have to result from actual changes in the digital "numbers" carried within the bitstream - and any such changes would be detected as errors by the checksum (or CRC) algorithm that is used over the entire packet. For a cable to change (for example) the midrange character of a signal, it would have to figure out which numbers are carrying that information, make the changes and then recalculate the checksums to make the packet valid again - which is a pretty tall order for a simple piece of wire.

    Rich

[Loquah]

I understand that in theory,  but my experience differs and goes against placebo in this situation. I expected no change based on the same theory you just explained, but my results were  significant, repeatable and undeniable.

The only explanation I can fathom is that ramp up or some similar trait must be involved.

[mpeg2]

This may well be a case where human and psycho-acoustic factors come into play (expectation rather than experience) as the science/engineering is pretty clear cut and very simple. However, if someone does have a technical explanation for other effects (with some data to back it up), I'm certainly open to learning more.

BTW: I think this applies to more than just USB - most digital audio connections don't simply pour bits over the "wire" - rather there's a packetized structure involved that does have error checking (and an establised timing/buffer model).

I come from the Digital Television world, mostly inventing and standardizing new transport structures...

    Rich

[Loquah]

This may well be a case where human and psycho-acoustic factors come into play (expectation rather than experience)

That can't be the case when the expectation goes directly against the experience. Had I expected improvement, I would question the positive experience, but expecting no change and then hearing a definite change (for better or worse) suggests that something is going on. My question then is not "Did I hear a change?", but "Why did I hear a change?"

[Doc B.]

It could be simply that the cable carries EMI that is injected into the signal ground of the DAC, and that carries over to the analog stage ground.