is my hearing going?

danger boy

First off.. half my mouth is numb.. i just got back from the dentist.. had a crown put on. only worked half day..

So i go to the nearest Best Buy and pick up three CD's on sale $9.99 each.
THe new ones by John Mayer, BareNaked Ladies and Justin Timberlake.

Currently listening to the new CD from John Mayer... so far so good. Sounds pretty decent on the SRS's. except, the highs are somewhat muted. Grrrrr!!! Muddy.

My ? is... does a person's hearing change from day to day? maybe not dramatically, but has anyone else noticed that one day your rig sounds just like ****, then the next day or two it sounds like you knew what you were doing when you put it together..

I know the gear didn't change.. so it must be my hearing.. i'm not going deaf, not yet anyways.

Anyone else notice that your gear can sound different good or bad on different days?

anyway... my mouth is still tingling from the novacane.

madmax

danger boy wrote:

My ? is... does a person's hearing change from day to day? maybe not dramatically, but has anyone else noticed that one day your rig sounds just like ****, then the next day or two it sounds like you knew what you were doing when you put it together..

Hope you are doing fine. You know, I thought the same thing day after day of great/poor sound. I learned to live with it assuming it was hearing. When I got into tubes, same thing.

With that said, I finally ended up with amps that I knew didn't sound good until they were fully warmed up after about 45 minutes. I got into the habit of turning them on when I got home and listening later. It wasn't until I got a preamp which claimed it needed to be on for 3 days before it reached its peak that suddenly the sound was good every single time I listened. I was leaving it on continuously due to the 3 day thing. After several months I actually said to myself "geez, this problem is gone". Later on I noticed that when I turned it off because of a predicted storm later or whatever, sometimes it sounded bad afterwards. I'm totally convinced now it was my equipment, specifically the pre, not being fully warmed up and stable. The amps still sometimes sound crappy if not on for an hour but that seems to be plenty of time for them.
madmax

Early B.

Huh?

I can't hear what you guys are sayin'.



Damn.

joeparaski

A pre-amp that needs to be warmed up 3 days before it sounds its' best!!!!???? And you bought that on your own free will??? Wow, talk about pre-planning your listening time.

Joe

heiney9

When I'm stressed from a hard days work (most days) sometimes listening to music can be down right annoying and cause a headache. I think it has more to do with a "frame of mind". I find when I'm the most relaxed is when the system really sounds the best. But I'm like most and mostly I am a critical listener and sometimes your "state of mind" (distractions, stress, tired) doesn't allow you to process the audio information correctly.

H9

bobman1235

heiney9 wrote:

When I'm stressed from a hard days work (most days) sometimes listening to music can be down right annoying and cause a headache. I think it has more to do with a "frame of mind". I find when I'm the most relaxed is when the system really sounds the best. But I'm like most and mostly I am a critical listener and sometimes your "state of mind" (distractions, stress, tired) doesn't allow you to process the audio information correctly.

H9

Exactly what I was going to say. If you're just not into it for whatever reason, it could be on the best system in the world and it won't do it for you.

billbillw

DangerBoy,
I'd say, almost with certainty, that your hearing was slightly impaired because of the dental proceedure. The drilling into your jaw sends intense high frequencies straight into your ear canal.
PLUS, I suspect the local anesthetic also impairs things. The jaw and the ear canal are so close to each other, its hard to believe that the auditory nerves would not be affected to some extent.
Give them a listen tomorrow and you probably be back to full range.

danger boy

billbillw wrote:

DangerBoy,
I'd say, almost with certainty, that your hearing was slightly impaired because of the dental proceedure. The drilling into your jaw sends intense high frequencies straight into your ear canal.
PLUS, I suspect the local anesthetic also impairs things. The jaw and the ear canal are so close to each other, its hard to believe that the auditory nerves would not be affected to some extent.
Give them a listen tomorrow and you probably be back to full range.

cool, makes sense.. i never really thought about that part... damn dentist!

I know this may sound fu*cked, but alcohol also makes my system sound like a million bucks.

heiney9

danger boy wrote:

I know this may sound fu*cked, but alcohol also makes my system sound like a million bucks.

Are you talking about pouring alcohol in a opening in your system or are you talking about you consuming the alcohol. If it's the latter I hardily concur. The better the buzz the better the system sounds.

frreo1

Consuming alcohol always helps (lol).

I remember an article about systems sounding different from day to day. While the gear does not change, the input power can and does change. The power voltage and extra garbage can affect the sound (after all, amps are simply power modulators). The article was touting the positive effects of a power conditioner. If you know someone who has one, try borrowing it to see if you notice a difference.

univera

danger boy wrote:

First off.. half my mouth is numb.. i just got back from the dentist.. had a crown put on. only worked half day..

So i go to the nearest Best Buy and pick up three CD's on sale $9.99 each.
THe new ones by John Mayer, BareNaked Ladies and Justin Timberlake.

Currently listening to the new CD from John Mayer... so far so good. Sounds pretty decent on the SRS's. except, the highs are somewhat muted. Grrrrr!!! Muddy.

My ? is... does a person's hearing change from day to day? maybe not dramatically, but has anyone else noticed that one day your rig sounds just like ****, then the next day or two it sounds like you knew what you were doing when you put it together..

I know the gear didn't change.. so it must be my hearing.. i'm not going deaf, not yet anyways.

Anyone else notice that your gear can sound different good or bad on different days?

anyway... my mouth is still tingling from the novacane.

Smoke a bowl.......It used to make all my music sound damn good in high school. And college....

Jim Shearer

I concur w/ billbillw, the visit to the dentist is probably the culprit. I certainly notice day to day changes in my hearing. A cold or allergy can result in not only depressed high freq responce, but also rattling in one or both ears at higher volumes. Exposure to loud noise (or any sound for that matter) such as a plane trip, can damp apparent sound levels and effect frequency responce. I am very careful when using power tools or other loud devices to use ear protection.

You can replace a blown driver in a speaker, but you can't replace a blown ear! (Although you can get some help from a hearing aid, I don't think it's going to be hifi.)

Cheers, Jim

madmax

joeparaski wrote:

A pre-amp that needs to be warmed up 3 days before it sounds its' best!!!!???? And you bought that on your own free will??? Wow, talk about pre-planning your listening time.

Joe

Believe me, a lot of equipment is like this, the manufacturers just don't have the balls to tell you it needs to be on all the time either due to negative acceptance or legal liabilities. As low as the heat is on most of this stuff it is easily a couple days until everything acheives a consistant temperature. Sounding better or worse isn't necessarily the point, its more about consistency of the sound. A given piece of equipment could consistantly sound worse when fully stabilized.
madmax

Emlyn

I've found the warm up issue to be just as important with CD players as preamps, moreso with some than others. The Perreaux CD1P is the most picky CD player I've found, but also one of the best sounding it it's worked with for a while. It sounds weak unless it has a PS Audio power cord feeding it, and it doesn't sound good for a couple of days if it's ever turned off for a few hours. It's power switch on the back is the only way to turn it off, indicating to me that the designer intended it to remain on at all times. The integrated amp I have from the same line also stays in standby mode, slightly warmed up all the time.

The 12 tube Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamp needs to remain in standby mode for 100 hours before it sounds its best, but the tubes in it have lasted for several years this way. Standby mode sends just enough power to the unit to keep the tubes warmed up just a little.

BlueMDPicker

madmax wrote:

Believe me, a lot of equipment is like this, the manufacturers just don't have the balls to tell you it needs to be on all the time either due to negative acceptance or legal liabilities. As low as the heat is on most of this stuff it is easily a couple days until everything acheives a consistant temperature. Sounding better or worse isn't necessarily the point, its more about consistency of the sound. A given piece of equipment could consistantly sound worse when fully stabilized.

+1

My Carver Research Lightstar Direct preamp has power to it continuously. There are no front panel, or remote, "power off" capabilities (or pots/switches of any kind for that matter.) You'd have to reach behind and toggle it off or unplug it. I put it in mute/standby mode when a listening session ends. I had it unplugged for a few hours one day while I was changing components and ICs and thought I'd really screwed the pooch with my new configuration until the preamp stabalized again.

The new PS Audio GC series gear states in the user manuals that it's recommended they never be powered off. When new, they recommend 200 hours of continuous power on component saturation before best SQ is attained. They know what they're talking about, from my experience.

schwarcw

DB, I think it's all of the above. As we age and/or abuse our ears with very loud music, this has a cumulative affect. The dental procedure will also impact your hearing and sense of smell and taste.

I suggest that you drink heavily as you have already noted music sounds great when you've got on a nice "glow":D

BobMcG

The work done by the dentist could certainly have had an effect on your hearing as others have pointed out and most of us are accustomed to the fact that our systems sound better when properly warmed up first.

However, having covered those two points I feel that during some listening sessions it seems to me that maybe it's my ears that need warming up before things sound proper to me. I don't know how to explain it other than it seems sometimes the sound isn't what it should be until after I've gotten the first track done with and then all is much better. Is it really my ears warming up or the drivers? Is it just me or anyone else?

heiney9

Just got back from a great meal at a top notch restaurant, 2 glasses of wine and 2 martini's. I let the sytem warm up before I left and it sounds incredible right now. My own little jazz club in my very own living room. Getting ready to leave again in the next hour or so and I guarantee when I get home sometime tomorrow morning it will sound even better.

Listening to Otis Rush-So many Roads Live. Keep the dentist's away from me tonight.

H9

P.s. That fu*ker can play.

Early B.

Hmmmm. Interesting. I never noticed the "warm up, get stabilzed" thing on any of my gear.

schwarcw

heiney9 wrote:

Keep the dentist's away from me tonight.

H9

QUOTE]

Get some Vicodin from the dentist for pain, wash it down with some Jack Daniels. Ah! Audio Nirvana!:eek:

RuSsMaN

Are you still listening to SDA's?

Could be time for something a little more refined?

Cheers,
Russ

GATOR3000

2+ on all of the above and the trip to dentist did it for sure.

I notice “humidity” in listening area effect sound quality of my gear. System always sounds a lot better with higher humidity in the house. In dryer winter months I observe SQ is a lot harsher and bass gets muddy. When I raise the dial on my humidistat it takes whole 24 hours to achieve SQ.

Gator

faster100

GATOR3000 wrote:

2+ on all of the above and the trip to dentist did it for sure.

I notice “humidity” in listening area effect sound quality of my gear. System always sounds a lot better with higher humidity in the house. In dryer winter months I observe SQ is a lot harsher and bass gets muddy. When I raise the dial on my humidistat it takes whole 24 hours to achieve SQ.

Gator

Now ive heard it all But then again at 30 below it might just be true

organ

Pay attention to your nasal pressure. Sometimes, it's a little off and your ears feel kinda plugged (like being in an airplane). If you have a cold, this is very obvious.

Also, the ambient noise during the day vs night. I'm sure we all agree that our rigs sound much better at night.

reeltrouble1

You have to turn the coin over on top of the source depending on what time of day it is to get the best sound, sheesh, I thought this was common knowledge. I keep a log book so I record what is the best time to turn it over, the clocks move back soon so have to remember that and adjust.

I tried the new nickel but still find a silver quarter to work best.

Humidity can have a big impact on speakers, especially planar.

RT1