First of all, this article does not really discuss sound or human hearing from a philosophical or scientific point of view, nor is the author engaged in relevant scientific research or theology, but based on the fact that these originally difficult and esoteric scientific and philosophical theories have gradually become obvious science in the present time of advanced information, especially in the discovery of quantum entanglement and other such physical phenomena that are still unexplained by science today, the line between theology, philosophy and science has become increasingly blurred.
So it is important to explain why the title is "The Auditory Dimension" and not "The Sound Dimension"?
The "dimension" of hearing and the "dimension" of sound are the way the listener perceives and interprets sound, and the possible state of existence of sound whether it can be explained by science or not, respectively.
In fact, scientists have long confirmed that the human body through the senses after the information, all the way to the final feeling is the result of the brain "post-production", this phenomenon in the human body to receive more than 80% of the amount of external information, is the sharpest human senses of vision have produced errors, not to mention other sensory systems such as hearing, taste, smell, touch and other relatively dull
Therefore, the above animation is like a magical experiment, it perfectly explains the "normal illusion" produced by human beings under the control of subjective consciousness; and the so-called "normal" is a biological perspective of an animal survival necessary ability, so that the brain can quickly judge the environmental information, so that the body and mind quickly react to achieve the purpose of avoiding bad luck, or to meet the desire
For those who still have doubts about the chessboard shadow illusion, you can download the original image at the end of the article, open the solid color square in word, and adjust the gray to the proportion of the following figure to move against
This article was inspired by a topic that has been the subject of considerable discussion in a FB community recently; "Do audiophile power cords have a role in improving sound?"
In fact, this has long been in the audio hobby circle is not a new topic, I was convinced of the importance of audio wire in the early years, there is no shortage of tens of thousands of dollars such as cardas golden series speaker wire, signal cable, power cord and row of plugs; there are also some expensive, it seems to have a lot of things, but the actual feeling is like a placebo, can produce a self-hypnotic effect of tuning small props
In the early years, I have borrowed from several audio stores that asked for tens of thousands of dollars of wire to try at home, but also to friends visiting the mouth to introduce the high price of these wires and a bunch of specious arguments; afterwards, I felt that the friends around me for the audio hobby of questioning and rejection, but also with the sense of loss that follows after satisfying the desire for possession
But fortunately, I finally have some rational DNA, in addition to the signal wire, speaker wire, such as the sound signal path, there is a theoretical basis and relatively feel the existence of the wire, the resistance to oxidation (such as enameled wire) and other durability and production costs (such as materials, processes, structures) are also taken into account, so it is not too blind, simply to meet the desire to possess and buy high-priced wire
Back to the FB topic that inspired this post
The purpose of the article is not to do a wholesale denial of the entertainment effect that an audio audiophile power cord can provide, although there are still some "plugged in and can not be unplugged", "like a different set of equipment", "the same sound direction as the brand of audio equipment" ..... etc.
The power cord, which is an audio accessory made of passive, single-function material with no control over objective conditions, is replaced by an audio device made up of many active/passive components with controllable electrical characteristics that can be adjusted according to subjective preferences.
This kind of logical, vague, and ideologically imaginative rhetoric has a considerable gap in perception for anyone who has actual experience in the consumer goods industry, whether or not they have a taste for audio.
First of all, the author's own management experience in the traditional industry, metallurgy, a highly capitalized, technology-intensive industry is not a general HI-END factory can play
Some of the very few consumer audio power cables launched directly by the upstream metallurgical industry under their own brand names (such as FURUKAWA in the early years), or most of the other brands sold by OEM, ODM, EMS, etc., in addition to the tacit understanding with the end retailer in their marketing and promotional content, the brand's own position is absolutely afraid to show the objective facts on the product packaging. For example: certain sound quality characteristics, or absolute positive improvement... and other such subjective descriptions
In addition to avoiding violating the relevant laws, in order to retain the flexibility to cut when a dispute arises over the over-exaggerated product features in the marketing and promotional content at the retail end
Furthermore, I have asked my friends who are engaged in the development of equipment in the energy industry: 1. if in the hundreds or even thousands of kilometers of people's power supply network, adding a few meters of fever power lines will have an impact on the characteristics of electrical appliances; 2. thermal, hydraulic, wind, nuclear, solar and other power generation, is there a difference in the electrical appliances painted by some players?
The above question is the author is in the judgment of the two friendship "iron enough" to ask questions, so as not to be ridiculed ignorant, even if it is worried that friends will be included in the "distance to keep safe" to refuse to deal with
Fortunately, I got a real answer: "Fuck! (Minnan language)
Therefore, to the extent that I can understand it, "causality", which is commonly used by the scientific community to explain physical phenomena, cannot be applied to the topic under discussion in this chapter
Once such a problem occurs that cannot be explained by purely rational objective laws of physics, the only way to try to understand the problem is to elevate it to a philosophical perspective; the reason is that in a philosophical perspective, it is possible to take the subjective factors of the individual as one of the elements of the problem, such as the "belief" that an audiophile power cord can change the sound
Perhaps part of the friends reading this will not be able to resist saying: what are you going to do, it's just a business!
I certainly know that many economic activities are not in fact what we see on the surface, for example, the recent rampant NFT
The author's limited understanding of the NFT virtual currency trading market, coupled with a variety of large and small media about the true and false NFT money-grubbing mystery introduced, so that the virtual money game is full of boomers and boomers have doubts and rejection, and thus the view of the mindset of friends and relatives who have invested in the NFT market around
The above also reflects the reason why non-audiophiles feel doubtful and rejected by the world of audio which is full of many mysteries without objective evidence and persuasive power.
In fact, most people outside of these religions and some religious believers themselves are unable to clearly distinguish the distance and difference between "faith" and "superstition", so they will simply and brutally use the prejudice to cover up all of them. The fact is that most people outside these religions and some religious believers themselves cannot clearly distinguish the distance and difference between "faith" and "superstition".
This phenomenon of collective subconscious hypnosis, which is unavoidable in the development of any religion or group, creates a sense of distance and rejection from the outside and emotional abduction by ideology from the inside, which leads to a vicious circle of self-imposed bondage and group isolationism.
Another direction of thinking; the current audio hobby circle is just like the Zhou Yi (I Ching), because of the inevitable secularization process in the development of society, the influence of the left-hand path (divination and trigonometry) has caused this philosophical five scriptures, which can be said to encompass all aspects of heaven and earth, and even used to interpret the origin of life, in the minds of most people who do not understand its true meaning is only a charlatan used to catch the medicine. The most common people, who do not understand its true meaning, think that it is just a book of fatalism used by charlatans to make their own medicine.
This explains one of the core problems of the hobby of audio, which is the growing number of children and the advanced age.
The beliefs that fall within the ideology are very difficult to shake once they are established within the human mind, so is the fever power cord valid? This relative two sides based on the subjective and objective standards of perception on the completely different beliefs of the fight, is definitely a hard fight and there will be no winner of the debate
Therefore, instead of struggling and arguing about any group delusion phenomenon that cannot be measured by the established objective facts, we should take the initiative to understand and interpret their beliefs, rather than simply asserting the negative, because those who had been convinced by the inner beliefs once dismantled, anyone is difficult to bear.
After the discovery of quantum entanglement, macroscopic science no longer adheres to causality, because it is fundamentally impossible to explain this objective fact, which exists like a ghost and exceeds all known laws of physics
But just because it cannot be explained does not mean that it cannot be used. The science that was born in theology and philosophy is no longer distinct from each other, so that this microscopic quantum mechanics, which cannot be explained in the framework of today's science, can be grasped and practically applied by human beings.
So why is it that audiophile power cords have been unable to escape the controversy of whether they have an improving effect? In addition to the inability to compare quantum entanglement, which also cannot be explained by science, but can be grasped by science and concrete practice, fever power cord metaphysical discourse and metaphysical market operations, taking advantage of human nature for the established beliefs will be blindly clinging to the weaknesses, creating a modern version of the "king's new clothes" illusion of the market
Music and sound should be a wonderful hobby that can be shared to all people closer to the ideal sound and beautiful music, but for the sake of obsession and willingness to be beaten can certainly meet the human nature's most eager to obtain a sense of superiority and security of being recognized, but also the emergence of millions of sefood and believers; sound is colored with religious superstition, apostasy is no longer a kind of faith that can enhance the auditory dimension, as The mysterious philosophy of the I Ching, which has been secularized by the mystical art of divination, makes onlookers despise and turn away from it.
Mark Levinson says:What does a power cord do? Conducting, filtering only. And these as long as the normal copper wire can do a good job, the less filtering should also be the better, so I feel quite disgusted with the market for the audiophile power cord ...
Again to the chessboard shadow illusion to apply to the above analysis, this normal physiological reaction is the fever power cord, fever fuse, and some other lack of objective theoretical basis for the tuning props, etc., in fact, the real illusion brought about by a
Even when the senses are known to be wrong, the human subconscious is still reluctant to correct them, and this of course includes the author himself.
Writer Jiang Xun:
Taste is a word that actually says how one goes about making choices; if you are always chasing after hunger, then you can never have taste
Tasting is checking whether we can feel satisfaction with what already exists...
