Monday Monologue: Can Our Brains Filter Noise in HiFi?

[@johnharrison8442]

Yes our brains have the ability to filter out background noise, white noise. This helps us to be able to focuse on listening to speach or near present sounds. The reason why you can't easily filter out random noise like the click on a record, is our primal reaction to random noise is that it maybe a threat to us and we need to react. You have trained your brain to not focus on your Tinnitus. This is how Audiologist help people who suffer from it, training your brain is a big part of hearing.

[@ThePerkri]

Remember the old Tv antennas? When we had static on the picture? Didn’t take long before I didn’t notice the static when watching my favorite shows :) And my collection is a mix of new and old pressings. Have a friend who has an online store and he deals pretty much exclusively in UK pressings. Have had great luck with the OK pressings. That, and Japanese pressings. And like you, if there is a record I really love, I keep buying versions of it until I get one that sounds right. Whatever “right” means… And yes, Tutu is a wonderful album. Check out Amandla as well. Saw him live once during this era.

[@EskWIRED]

Another factor to consider with record surface noise is that it is usually all out of phase with itself and does not appear in the sound stage at any specific point. So if you have a system which has good imaging, the noise does not appear in any particular specific point in space, and therefore you don't really hear it

[@chatrs1025]

The background noises I bother with are not hisses or pops from vinyls but from inherent noises come along with music sounds like the violin sound and its fffff generated by the phono stage distortion or free plays from tonearm and platter bearing or noises from excited plinth vibratons. You can get lesser of these with higher model turntables/phono stages.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Aqualung ...haha..........bought it in the seventies, still one not to forget ..listening to the album with a deep breath , a locomotive breath......

[@NickP333]

😂 Hey Frank. I assume you’ve got or had Tull’s “Stand Up” LP with the pop up gatefold cover too?

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

@@NickP333 YEAH.........also the album in imitation leather with the booklet inside.... Great times .....in what was a different world.

[@NickP333]

@@frankgeeraerts6243Oh, yeah. It was called “Living in The Past”, I believe. There was also a Beatles record called “Love Songs” with a fake leather cover and it came with a booklet too. It’s one of Capitol’s US pressings where they just put together a bunch of songs to make up an album to sell more rewords. That of course happened a lot with their US records, as Parlophone put out a lot of singles in England, and the UK pressings are superior in sound quality but had less songs. I’ll take the better sound. They did a great job with the 2014 mono box set which was AAA, but the original UK are even a bit better.

[@1mctous]

Yes, our brains can filter out steady state noise. I would never have listened to cassettes or 8-tracks if that weren't true. I can also filter out the low level LF noise inherent to LP's. I found the U-Turn Orbit's motor noise intruded upon classical and jazz LP's and thus upgraded to a much quieter MoFi StudioDeck.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

gonna check that one out :)

[@mddawson1]

I must admit to being one of those people that wants an absolute silent background to my music playback. It stems from my last TV, an LG that was putting mains noise loud enough to hear from my seat into my HT/HiFi system. It was so bad that I didn't want to use the it. I have since replaced it with a Sony TV but the damage was done in that I now wanted zero idle hiss from my speakers. I have almost achieved it with my HT system with said new TV and replacing a Marantz AVR with a Tonewinner processer that uses XLR cables into my Sunfire HT amp. I also decided to have a separate HiFi component setup with an Eversolo DMP-A8 feeding a Hypex Nilai DIY500 Stereo amp - absolute silence on idle.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

I wasn't talking about a television :)

[@mddawson1]

Has anyone found this. Back in the 90s when I replaced most of my vinyl with CDs, there was one particular track that when listening to the CD version, I would notice a surface click my vinyl had was missing. It is almost as if that surface noise had become part of the music and my noticing it missing lasted a few years.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

100% lol

[@kubockferre5532]

hi stephe it would be interesting to make a vidéo to show with shematic how to make star ground with tube preamp to eliminate noise ,

[@RobertKohut]

In the summer when my window ac unit is on my records are silent like a CD.... LOL The ambient noise from the ac is louder than the record surface noise.

[@el_arte]

You can also improve the sound of some headphones by using a white noise machine in the corner of your room. But, noise is noise and it shouldn’t be there.

[@NebukedNezzer]

there are lots of class d amps in the 8 watt/ch range for 20 buck range that sound great.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

I've listened to a handful and wasn't impressed, but then again I'm focused on tube audio and don't have any interest in auditioning dozens of chip amps trying to find the needle in a haystack. This one sound nice/organic after the upgrade and I'm happy to refer people to this combo when they are looking for a reasonably priced HiFi amp. People can go watch @cheapaudioman if they are looking for $20 HiFi.

[@NebukedNezzer]

@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics thanks for the cheapaudioman recommendation. he has a lot of fun stuff. as I have said before. just because cheap class d amps can sound very good is not a reason for me to abandon tube amps.

[@StrangeBrewReviews]

Speaking of "excitement" in the audio or "life" I have a 90's audiosource EQ eleven. for any flat sounding mixes I turn on this eq with just a flat bump of 1 or 2 across the board, and IDK it just add Life to the mix, its not a pure flat EQ maybe it has a little distortion, but its a really great sounding EQ ,,its not just for the EQ it just has a type of distortion that's not all different from tubes. and yeah If the sound is great over the surface noise of an LP its easy to mentally filter it out, but I can't handle DC noise.

[@ToobTime]

The thing about hum is that everyone seems to blame the amp or pre-amp, or some such component. What I have often found is that if you short the amp input, and I mean short to the smallest length of wire, the hum goes away. Well clearly the amp is not humming it is the connected circuitry. That is enlightening... It's me, not you. Heh heh heh. There are people who try to hear "defects". People who turn the volume to the top and amplify the bass response to the max. Really?!?! OCD much? In the end it should be the music you hear and not the minute tick one might hear. I don't think I have ever hear an absolutely quiet record, except in a recording studio with a million dollars of equipment. (Where all the motor and gear bearings are magnetically elevated and the plinth is anchored to the core of the earth. 😉)

[@el_arte]

Also, Tutu is great and Miles was a genius, but the other genius of that album is Marcus Miller. Check out Laid Black, Renaissance, Afrodeezia, A Night In Monte Carlo.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

Oh no doubt. I love his album "Laid Black".

[@vrod4178]

After watching you and a couple others I decided to get a vintage Dynaco st70 over the newer Chinese options. Apparently its relatively easy to get it to function as a triode design and make it switchable. Any thoughts or experience with the dynaco?

[@jackstanley3529]

Good choice. The output transformers are high quality. The weakness in this amp is the stock driver board with the 7199 tubes or adapted 6GHA (worse). Replacing the driver board with a VTA Tubes for Hifi) or the Triode Electronics boards will result in a dramatic improvement in bass definition and overall dynamics. (Try stock first for a while so you get to know the sound.)

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

I'm not a fan of triode strapped pentode output tubes. And the circuit needs to be tuned for one or the other, once you tune it for one, simply "switching" the other will sound bad. From my experience switchable US/Triode is a gimmick.

[@vrod4178]

@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics Thank you, being a listener of mostly rock n roll and metal music I thought I should go for a push pull amp for more power and dynamics. Is the dynaco a good choice for that duty or are there other amps, vintage or newer, that you would choose over that one at a reasonable price? I do plan on putting together one of those cool amps btw, probably the kt88 version.

[@vrod4178]

@@jackstanley3529 Thanks for the input.

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

The power needs don't change, it's all based on in room SPL and speaker efficiency. As far as dynamics, I see more difference in tube type used, EL34 is more mellow then the KT tubes. For bass slam, KT120's are king!

[@NickP333]

Forgot about the member berries. “Hey, member Chewbacca?” “Yeah, I member”.😂 When putting their ear right next to the speaker, they heard some hum, huh? Because that’s how people listen to music…My speakers are about 10 ft away from me. Once the music kicks in, I can hear right past any pops or clicks on a record that’s not in perfect condition. It’s kinda similar to a poorly recorded album. If the songs are good, I can usually hear past it, but each scenario has its limits. Maybe it’s because when we were kids, vinyl was the main medium? 🤷‍♂️

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

Yeah, I am more limited on badly recorded music. I can still enjoy it casually, but can't use it in a listening session.

[@RaviNewfarm]

My sensitivity to noises depends. If it is mains 50 / 100 hz hum I am a bit allergic to it. It basically means I have work to do, as it is usually preventable. More / better filtering and or finding and fixing ground loops or other grounding / screening issues. To get my F5 silent I had to go all the way to build separate power supplies for each channel and isolating ground for each channel via NTC on one side and parelelled diode brige on the other side. Basically making it monoblocks , although in the same chassis. Hiss and record surface noice I can better filter out with my brain, but again it depends a bit. Repetitive clicks as you say get on the nerves. If I am listening with headphones I am more sensitive to all kind of noises, but still the low frequency ones like hum or turntable motor/bearings rumbe of all kinds get to me. I though my old Thorens TT was pretty decent until I switched to listening mostly with headphones. Then I found it did not really cut it. There were way too much mechanical noises from the chassis. So I massively upgraded my TT to a Dr. Feickert. Happy now with headpone listening on that one. But still if I can detect hiss with normal listening volume, I will not accept it and will start searching for better tubes, or reduce unneccesary gain in my system. I suspect many suffer of way to much gain in their chain. If when you are listening on the loudest volume you will be listening and your volume control is not almost at max, you have too much gain in your system. I am there that with my F4 power amp, with 0 gain, I can just play loud enough with my pre-amp (IronPre) at almost no attenuation. With my F5 power amp I have about 15 db gain so have to attenuate more, but I also have a jumper in my pre, where I can lower the gain with 6 db which makes it about perfect. Then you can always upgrade to more quiet vinyl for your favorite records and better styluses / pickups. For supe-nice vinyl re-issues I can really recommend the Atlantic 75 series. They are crazy good and semi-affordable to, It's very close to UHQR quality at less then half the price!

[@SkunkieDesignsElectronics]

One reason I brought this up was the two copies of Aqualung. One was a virtually silent/zero surface noise reissue, the other is a first pressing with a lot of surface noise. I hands down prefer the first pressing over the silent background reissue version due to the better mastering of the first pressing to my ears. I can filter out the surface noise with my brain, I can't enjoy the boosted bass/muddy sounding reissue.

[@RaviNewfarm]

@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics yeah, it's a fun hobby, so many aspects that impact our enjoyment. First the performance itself. Then the venue/ studio and not to forget the recording engineers. Then mixing and mastering and finaly the pressing. This all befre we get to our own playback equipment. But for sure when the good music is playing hopefully we can forget all the rest, at least for a while 😉

[@el_arte]

The life of the music is distortion; as simple as that. The distortion makes the audio spectrum sound fuller. People think I jest when I say this. It’s worse than that; it’s not only the distortion that is natural to the original music, which can be removed by negative feedback and other things, but also additional distortion, mainly 2nd order, that makes the sound warmer.

[@NebukedNezzer]

I have a bunch of audio amps. the best music amp I have is my home made single ended 45 tube stereo amp. one and a half watts rms per channel. no hum or noise but great "sound stage" the music sounds much like live music.

[@EskWIRED]

45 tubes?

[@NebukedNezzer]

@@EskWIRED yes the 45 tube is very old. low mu triode. once 25 cents now extremely expensive.

[@NebukedNezzer]

@@EskWIRED while one 45 single ended class A is good for one and a half watts. a pair of 45 in push pull are good for 10 watts rms. I have some old radios that are really LOUD with a pair of 45 tubes.

[@EskWIRED]

@@NebukedNezzer I'm not familiar with those tubes. What is the full model number?

[@NebukedNezzer]

@@EskWIRED 45 is the tube number. do a google search for 45 tube data.

[@allenwalters8812]

Yes it is. My ex wife would get so mad at me because I could watch TV while my kids were fighting. I wouldn't hear a thing.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Tutu is the outfit of a ballerina............

[@mddawson1]

Could be Desmond?

[@rcmoot]

I quit buying mass produced vinyl , because of bubbles . Needle would bounce/skip.