The Audio Expert, Part 3: Common Audio Myths

Vinyl records and vacuum tube equipment are very popular with devoted audiophiles who believe these old-school technologies more faithfully reproduce subtle nuance.

There’s no question that LPs and tubes sound different from CDs and solid state gear. But are they really better? The answer is, not in any way you could possibly assess fidelity.

Common to both formats is much higher distortion. LPs in particular have more inherent noise and a poorer high-frequency response, especially when playing the inner grooves.

I’m convinced that some people prefer tubes and vinyl because the distortion they add sounds pleasing to them.

In the audio press this is often called euphonic distortion. Adding small amounts of distortion can make a recording sound more cohesive, for lack of a better word.

Distortion can seem to increase clarity, too, because of the added high-frequency overtones.

Recording engineers sometimes add distortion intentionally to imitate the sound of tubes and analog tape, and I’ve done this myself many times. Simply copying a song to a cassette tape and back adds a slight thickening that can be pleasing if the instrumentation is sparse. But clearly this is an effect, no matter how pleasing, and not higher fidelity.

Other common audio myths involve very small devices that claim to improve room acoustics.

You can pay a hundred dollars each for small pieces of exotic wood the size and shape of hockey pucks.

Other common but too-small acoustic products are metal bowls that look like Sake cups and thin plastic dots the size and thickness of a silver dollar.

Sellers of these devices suggest you put them in various places around your room to improve its acoustics.

But with acoustics, what matters is covering a sufficient percentage of the room’s surface. Real acoustic treatment must be large to work well, and that’s not always conducive to a domestic setting.

Some people want very much to believe that something small and unobtrusive can solve their bad acoustics, without upsetting the decor. Sadly, such products simply do not work.

Worse, an acoustic device that purports to be a “resonator” can only add unwanted artifacts, assuming it really is large enough to have an audible effect. There’s a type of bass trap called a Helmholtz resonator, but that works as an absorber rather than adding the sound of resonance into the room.

Another myth is that the sound of vinyl records and CDs can be improved by applying a demagnetizer. There’s no reason to believe that the vinyl used for LP records could be affected by magnetism. Even if plastic could be magnetized, there’s no reason to believe that would affect the way a diamond needle traces the record’s grooves.

A change in sound quality after demagnetizing a CD is even less likely because CDs are made from plastic and aluminum, and they store digital data! For the most part, digital audio either works or it doesn’t. Although digital audio might possibly be degraded when error checking is not employed, degradation is never due to a CD becoming “magnetized.”

As an audio professional I know that $1,000 can buy a very high-quality power amplifier. So it makes no sense to pay, say, $17,000 for an amplifier that is no better and may in fact be worse. However, some myths are more like urban legends: No products are sold, but they’re still a waste of time.

For example, one early hi-fi myth claims you can improve the sound of a CD by painting its edge with a green felt marker. (Yes, it must be green.)