Our perception of music is highly depending on mood and also what our eyes are seeing. A dark room with our eyes not loading the brain with inputs allows our brain to focus more on the music.
Yes; one other thing theres been alot of research showing that listening at lower levels with lower background sound allows the brain to magnify the sound more and bring out inner detail. Same reason we evolved to be able to hear predators better at night in the forest/jungle
So true, the Music sounds better when you want to just get into it w a nice stereo system that's Why I try not to listen to music at work or when its just on. Its better to Wait, it also sounds better when driving to a Event like a concert! or going to meet friends.
AC wall power aside, a more likely explanation is your circadian rhythm. In the evening, melatonin is released in your body, your core temperature goes up, your heart rate goes down. Bottom line, your body relaxes and prepares for sleep (in the morning, the opposite happens). Your senses dull somewhat and, as far as music goes, you’re not as well equipped for critical listening as you may be during day light hours. Everything will sound smoother and more rolled off, not unlike what happens if ever so mildly intoxicated (no, it’s not a he-he joke about drinking). This is the same reason your car engine will sound smoother when driving at night as opposed to during the day.
@@0x07AF in addition to the shape of the voltage, a big problem is the absorption due to the current peaks required by the power supply stage of the amplifier. and this problem is not solved by voltage regenerators, buffer cells are needed
sure, there is a -bit- of truth there but this doesnt explain why its always exactly the same, every night compared to day, specially since im also a person who sometimes goes to sleep at 4PM and wake up at 1AM ... just feeling the same and (for me) the stereo just seems to really open up after around 2AM .... till around 5-6AM (which is not coincendetal i think since its exactly around that time "normal people" sleep and non-24h-industry is shut off
We probably also shouldn't dismiss the psychological element: A nice evening, you've done your chores, had a nice dinner.... time to relax and listen to some music. Perhaps it's just a more enjoyable setting to really enjoy listening to music and appreciate your system? I don't want to dismiss the power quality argument, but this should be easily measurable with a null-test or something. Personal enjoyment based on your state of mind at the moment is not really measurable, while that stuff has a much larger impact. Your mind always plays tricks on you, especially when it comes to audio and music!
Im with the physiological comments. Soundstage much better in a dark room. I don't see the components as much so my brain is not restricting sound to the speakers. Also a couple drinks helps get into the music better.
I believe music perception is to great extent dependent on your mind state. We have a different mindset in the evening and this helps to enjoy music more. if you're tired it will influence your music percption. The same music, the same system - one day you feel great stereo and dynamic range, another day everything feels kind of flat. Most probably clean power supply in th evening adds to that, but I still believe state of mind is the key here.
Doesn't power collect and smooth out in the caps anyway? Then the amp draws that clean power later... Just because a pipe filling a tank with water is tumultuous doesn't mean that the water in the holding tank is tumultuous. The tank full of water is calm.
Remember too that night comes after cocktail hour! I might give some credence to power quality issues in Jakarta, but in most North American residential neighborhoods, the power quality is the same 24/7.
nancy4don At night noise level is lover, so you hear a better dynamic contrast. The mose gain is in the bass region it sounds fuller and thanks to that, midrange and highs getting sharper definition.
In most industrialized countries, they turn off their electric train services between 1 in the evening to 5 in the morning to check the tracks and service the trains. During my college days back in 1992, we connected an oscilloscope to the mains in our lab in time for the noonish 11:45 tram. It turned from a regular sine wave into a waveform that seems to eminate from Jimi Hendrix's Strat - albeit only for a fraction of a second.
Absolutely sounds better at night, in fact after 10 PM is the twitching hour! Further I have noticed a definite power cycle: three weeks of good power, one week of excellent power and one week of CR**!
For me, sometimes in the morning audio sounds a bit high pitched. And at night, it sounds like it's being slowed down, yet playing at it's normal rate. Almost like music playing on a cassette where you can adjust the speed. Except the music is playing at a normal rate, it's the audio that is switching pitches.
My father worked at a power plant. They always got some extra big turbines started up on Sunday to Monday nights to have them going full power when on Monday mornings all moms switched on the washing machines 😁 They always kept the power supply through the grid reliable and stable 24/7 for decades without any interruption. No sound differences when on that grid.
Why were you in Jakarta? Is your equipment made there? Which country’s power did you look at on the scope? Does the country or grid matter? Where is your equipment mainly sold? Can we see the pictures of the ‘flat topping’ at night and the phase shift in the country where you sell most of these units? No? Why not? What’s a rectifier?
I owned two P-300’s which were absolutely jaw-dropping on first listen. But I didn’t have a quiet listening room so the ambient noise was also less in the evening. Now I have a P-12 in my current system but still have ambient noise in my new apartment.
I always wonder about air density affecting sound waves. Humidity, air quality, rain. I would assume the air can get thicker and thinner just like a liquid affecting the how the the sounds waves travel through it.
My biggest factor of sound perception is actually my mental state of mind. If my mind is occupied with other stuff, I can't interpret many things from the music. Nor can I appreciate it. But if I'm at ease, and my only focus is my music, I'm able to critically listen and almost each time I do, I pick up nuances that I never did before. I just find that we spend more time focusing on the output system and minimal time on the recipient, which is the listener:)
I'd need to see some measurement data from the power input to the signal output of the amplifier for this one. A properly isolated and filtered AC to DC input isn't difficult and I've never seen AC line noise that can't be easily filtered out by standard methods. If the AC line source was bad enough to circumvent input filtering under typical conditions it would be very worthy of measurement data-backed publication. My opinion leans heavily toward a human physiological or psychological element here.
paul is simply admitting his products come with inadequate power supplies; cyrus have played this trick with their amps, the upgrade being a proper power supply.................................why manufacturers keep on getting away with this crap is beyond me
Traffic provides vibration at 7Hz 400x greater than the tweeters movement when creating music. Get Townshend Audios seismic products and decouple speakers and electronics from 2,5 Hz instead of usuall 30 Hz (Isoacoustics, Sorbothane etc). Only when you address power regeneration and traffic vibrations will you get late night listening daytime.
@@NiclasMardfelt I have fancy nordost cones for all the boxes and even more fancy TAOC stand. Yes they alll do input in to quality. Buuuuuut it still sounds way better at night :)
From my experience, my thought would be the change in outdoor temperature at night. Since Indonesia is 230 Volts 50 HZ the voltage variation would be less of an issue. That may not be true if you live far from the city. Then voltage problems will occur since you are at the end of the line, so to speak. PS Audio does make a 230 V 50 Hz unit that would take care of any voltage issues.
I can relate to many a late night listening sessions where the power is better. In the fall when it's cooler and not everybody is using their ac it can sound good as well. If your in a building where multiple people are using the same ac you can see the difference when say many are not home at work or out of town.
This may apply to countries with 120V power supply. Not so much with 240V standard. Also ambient noise make a huge difference. My listening room is not ideal and in that day I can measure 49db when the fan and AC is off. In the night same room measures around 36db.
Thanks Paul. What I still find hard to believe that it seems you tell us that even the best PS-Audio devices don't have a good enough power supply to handle any kind of AC input. As far as I understand the power supplies in each device convert the AC into lower voltage DC. Shouldn't that be possible, perfectly possible, with any AC input?
@@johnholmes912 Paul obviously wants to sell power regenerators to audiophiles. I agree that a power supply should filter all frequencies higher than the fundamental. That's what capacitors are for. In the case of a power supply, the fundamental is 0 Hz, so the power supply should filter out everything above 0 Hz. In fact, it should be much easier to filter out high frequencies than low frequencies. Thus the idea of RF causing a power supply problem is largely myth. Also, if a 60 Hz mains is "flat topping", that means there are some harmonic frequencies creeping in that are higher than 60 Hz, based on Fourier analysis. Therefore, a filter should easily be able to eliminate these, even on a power line.
Fully agree that poor power supply waekens a system. Anyway, I experienced over many years that my level of relaxation significantly alters the perception of listening. Most exciting to me are those late night sessions when I am close to falling asleep, but still awake enough to listen to alle the details. Typically, I then can take back volume significantly without getting the impression of flat sound. What also helps is to do a quick 2 min breathing exercise to calm stress levels down to make listening far more enjoyable. Most likely, it's a good combination of both - sound power and relaxed mood.
You right on that. I use power conditioner, even though not the best solution, but found big help, sounds from speakers and at times sound from my arcam receiver where eliminated by puritan brand power supply and conditioner. Also use good quality hdmi and speakers wire. I picked van den hul for wires. I picked these brands after lengthy research. Now, will look into power regenerating method and cost. With above upgrades I found the quality of sound and pictures were much better and refined. This could be subjective so brought in family members to confirm if there were differences. Answer was quite a lot differences. Compared to cheaper brands and manufactured in China.
Talking about sales pitch, why don't you take one of those power plants of yours and show us the before and after logs at both day and night in a future video
With unregulated voltage rails this makes sense but with Bob Carvers "Tracking Down Converter " power supply in his Sunfire amplifiers it tracks the incoming signal and keeps the voltage to the output transistors a constant 6V above what is needed at that instant in time so a varying line voltage does not affect performance one bit. Too bad Sunfire does not make power amps anymore as they are also load invariant and sound as good as much pricier amps. But this begs the question why don't manufacturers use voltage regulators for their power rails?
@Douglas Blake On Carver's older "Magnetic Field Coil" amplifiers he used a small triac (on a small heatsink) on the input of his transformer (field coil) to keep his low, medium and high voltage rails constant with enough current to drive rather current hungry Magnepan speakers. All of his Sunfire "tracking Down Converter" powered amplifiers use only the chassis and unvented cover as a heat sink for the regulator and output transistors and they only got a little warm. These amps were load invariant with his 600watt amp able to deliver 4000 watts into a 1 ohm load which equates to 63 amps (on a time limited basis) and were stable with a 3/4 ohm load.
Does LED lamps and dimmers affect too? I have a change in sound att home. I might be little crazy and wrong, but it appears that this change come att same time that we changed from regular lights to LED lighting, and ofc few dimmers. I still have the differnts betwwin night and day (even weekends) But the "good houers" is not so good anymore. :( I know, myt systems is not ps audio qualety, and ofc could been foulty of age. (Tho the oldest system does not seem to be the most affected) so i do wonder of the LED's and the dimmers...
@Douglas Blake Actually, when the sound is bad, oven, and toaster seem to have reduced effekt. Even the waffle iron is cooking uneven. The surround system, an Harman Kardon get some differences in the static when operating the dimmers. But really not so much. My Stereo system, with and really old NAD 216 THX. Does not seem to change anything when operating the dimmers. Both are affected when ovens etc seems to lose effectivity. I know my house have some of the oldest power lines in my area, connected to the oldest transformator. with old 220V system.. Rest of the area is having new 400V to all houses, then use Neutral actively for 230 applications (Im not sure on details of that, but supposedly much more stable) And there is some industry using same old transformator close to me. So perhaps i am mistaking to blame the led's and dimmers. If so, that be good when im moving in few months. Tho home with new lines connected to a new transformator who only share with residential homes.
@Douglas Blake That is my conclusion too I(Googled this after first post) Lukelly i already bought new apartment, and trough google i found out some power grid information in this area. My new apartment, who is still in building fase. Is getting brand new power lines, according to latest specs and rules, and dedicated transformators for the apartment building and private homes in the area. Who is over constructed for stability and future enhancements. And the did same with internet fiber optics.. so i got little lucky there. Coz before i was not so much aware of these types of issues.
Well, but in any HiFi System works internally with DC. So all the magic with DC and filtering is already going on without external power regenerator. Why not just only better filtering, i.e. biger low ESR caps within the devices?? Chris
Years ago I bought a power conditioner. My house is detached with no near neighbors. Using the conditioner made no difference that I could detect so I put it in the attic. A dozen years ago, I got a condo in the mountains. I can't make a lot of noise there, so I put in a moderate quality system. It didn't sound very good so after a while I dug out the power conditioner and boy, what a difference. I assume that with so many close neighbors there is a lot more junk in the line.
A few days ago I scoped the power at a retail store in a significantly large shopping center. What did I see? Flat-topped fuzz and frazzle? Nope. Nearly perfect waveform. Clean.
In this situation I would bet you money it has more to do with the temperature difference between the day and evening. Hot temperatures can degrade the sound due to the performance of the drivers as they are affected by extreme heat.
I have PS Audio P12 Powerplant and it made a dramatic difference for the better in my system. I was skeptical when I bought it and figured they have a generous return policy but when I put it in my system...there was no way it was going back.
@@9mmmike642 your entire system costs less than $5,000 and you've never heard anything better? You need to get out more. ;) We all have biases towards our own systems. Biggest system I've listened to was a a $50,000 pair of speakers. They were exceptional. I still like my system better with regards to soundstage, but i recognize where that system is better. Tone and dynamics. Maybe i can't have it all, but I'm certainly gonna try now that I've heard what's possible.
@@LunarLightLtd1 if most of the money in expensive wouldn't go in optical bullshit - go hear accuton drivers in a baffle wall with digital crossover - way way cheaper and better than most of the expensive floor speakers
In any case, a great headphone system can solve most problems unless you're diametrically opposed to headphones or need complete mobility when listening.
Honestly, I only listen to music / movies at night anyway after work.. so thats good to know i dont need to use money on a regenerator to help with audio quality!
This applies also at weekends or holidays and other public festivals when many sectors of economy are at day off. Off course, running an audio systems only on such occasions isn't the solution.
Night - No distractions - time for love, spirits, wine, beer, root beer, Seven Up, Coke Dr Pepper- music will always sound better unless the neighbors complain! Of course, a P12 or P15 will definitely help!
Maybe you are more relaxed at night. Also, music sounds better if the air is more humid than dry.. I listen in complete darkness because my ears are not competing with my sight. This improves the sound stage dramatically. Looking at your equipment while listening is the worst thing you can do and that includes the speakers. If you cant make the room dark during the day, then put a black sound transparent curtain in front of the speakers from one wall to the other. Also, don't have your electronics between the speakers. They should be put say halfway along one of the side walls.
It happen to me a lot, but not every night. To me, it's my brain more than any other factors. I know for sure because I use a DAP and a pair of IEM, it has nothing to do with AC power. It does not have wireless charging capability yet.
What do you think? If you changed something in your monitoring system, would that alter the end result, or would you be able to compensate for the change?
If it is audible, it is measurable. Show the measurements of what comes out of the speakers, and relate it to audibility research. Also, components convert the AC to DC internally, so no problem with funky line AC (within reasons). Here line voltage drops in summer to 90 V or so, and that is a problem. So I added a Furman voltage regulator. As far as I know PS PP cannot deal with low line voltage.
I would assert that the reason the system sounds better at night is for Psychoacoustics reasons and the circadian rhythms that occurs with all living things (that is physical, mental, and behavioral that happen throughout the day). The power quality as asserted here would only be a factor in poor quality power supplies. Furthermore this assertion would be easy to test with blind A/B testing.
The quality of the power you feed your gear with has big impact how it sounds. I am running my gear straight from the wall without any filtering/regenerating. For me it sounds better in the late evening/night. Probably due to less disturbance on the grid. It's almost spooky how relaxed the music sounds/feels. Playing music during daytime can sound very tense/stressed and I just want to turn it off.
@@rob_66 I believe it does sound better to you but that it's due to circadian rhythms and Psychoacoustics. A quality product's power supply should handle all the power conditioning needed. Only way to know for sure I'd blind listening tests.
@Douglas Blake don't know🤔, all my gear runs on a commonly power (240V 10A) with two neighbours below me. Power supplys in my gear is maybe more sensitive disturbance on the grid?
@@paulgyro Sure, maybe a combo of that, cleaner power and quieter enviroment in a city at night. A friend of mine is musician and when they recorded an album it was all done at night. He asked the studio technician, why? Short answer: Sounds better, cleaner power.....
The fear of harassing neighbours therefore making you keep a threshold on the bass and volume does nothing but offer you a never ending sweetener. A line you mustn’t cross. Psychological.
music sounds better at night: - cleaner power frequency: better electronics signal to noise ratio - less ambient sounds/ street noise: better acoustic signal to noise ratio - brain switches from local attention to mind wandering before sleep - slowed reflexes, slowed mental accuity and toned down eyesight due to tiredness, but higher sound sensitivity due to instincts. - changing air pressure and temperature due to nighttime cooling/ indoor heating. - psychology: mental state of having finished the day.
A solar system takes DC from the panels and converts it to AC using an inverter. Today that means high frequency, like over 50khz, chopping the DC into AC and then filtering the HF out. A loose analogy is a switch mode power supply running backwards. So in theory that would be the worst source of power for an audio system. But in reality it doesn't matter. The impedance of the power grid is so low the effects of these solar inverters result in very little noise injected back into the AC line. All this AC power quality FUD for home HiFi is just that. A scam to sell audiophile products at outrageous prices. Yes power quality is important like in a data center or lab with highly sensitive gear. But there is an entire industry serving this need on a professional level with commercial UPS systems.
AlIEnS are recharging their cloaking devices during the day and it effects the power grids. The poor pictures the Navy gets of them is when their juice is running low and they forgot to return to the mothership on time.
Actually, my understanding is that the spacemen are working with Paul on next gen cloaking devices that will use a much cleaner electricity to fix this problem, something called The McGowan Coil,
My system sounds best before 3 PM. That's because it's in my home office and in the afternoon I'm so tired of all the audio conferences that my hearing goes down. I get the best listening experience during focus time and when I take breaks.
@Douglas Blake 1% is more than enough. it justifies any purchase, if u got the money. actually 0% difference would do it as well, why? coz some pple appreciate quality components/etc regardless wether they do anything to sound.
I also have electrostatics. Although my speakers are stable with climate changes I know some can react to humidity as this can affect the diaphragm bias charge.
Humidity should not affect electrostatics in good condition, unless an extreme variation. Do your speakers take a while to charge up and reach full volume? If so, this may indicate the resistive coating on the diaphragm has deteriorated and the high voltage bias is struggling to spread over the diaphragm. How old are your speakers? They may need some renovation. No box speaker comes close to the startling reality you hear from a good pair of full range electrostats.
@@geoff37s38 My speakers are Martin Logan Quests, around 30 yrs old, sound great except sometimes in the summer months, when they seem to have a harsher harder sound kind of like a bad recording, but the recording is not the issue (hope that made sense!)
@@aakar88 yes understood. May be worth having them checkd out, depends how much it bothers you, i do not know where you live but you may find a business nearby that renovates electrostats.
@@geoff37s38 Thank you for the reply and interest! I have talked to M&L, they recommend replacing the electrostat panel. but I am reluctant to do that as the issue is more "a live with it" type and the bottom end seeming to cause it ( ie hardness of sound and poorly defined bass)
I saw people actually sharing and believing this which is sad. The comments give mixed feelings - some people realize how much of a ridiculous nonsense it is, which is promising, but some really buy this? :(((
I know right? i thought people that were into Hi-Fi gear would be a little more intelligent than this. But it seems to be that many of them are very easily fooled.
Oh. My. God. Instead of explaining how big is a difference between day and night in mains distortion, how does amplifier power supply works, what are typical amp voltages and what are typical distortion of these voltages due to mains higher harmonics, there is this "beautiful story" / sales pitch (as Paul himself calls it) about importance of turning mains AC to DC then to "better" AC to be later turned into DC again in amplifier power supply itself... Com'on, if it is not poorly made DIY power supply or amp objectively it will not be different. Best of luck and congratulations - a great sales pitch, Sir!
Max Townshend is of the opinion that traffic gives seismic activities around 7Hz, the same as earthquakes, giving vibrational smear in electronics, cables and speakers. In tweeters, 400x more ground movement than the tweeters on movement then creating music. That is why Townsend’s seismic products decouples from 2,5 Hz and are best in class. Conclusion, you have to address vibration from very low frequencies and address power regeneration to have late night listening quality daytime.
Well, I would say that cleaner power is a factor, but I bet that a silent environment helps and lower overall RFI, solar radiation, etc. Paul, denonstrative, why not SHOW us your regenerator graphs?
Why stereo systems sound different at night? Oh damn !!! I forgot to turn on the Air Conditioner no wonder why the music sounds so hot in my living room !!!
it is much better to reproduce the two cases and then pass to an abx test. no measurements are needed. case a with dirty power supply (a dirty power supply can be built) and case b with clean power supply. the problem is not the lack of measurements but to establish reliably if the differences are really audible and above all recognizable
What is super odd is that it's like you read my mind. I was just thinking to myself, gosh my hifi sounds better at the mo (23:15 uk time). Then I see this video pop up. Spooky!
Remind me: what's the function of the power supply section in every component? Oh, that's right: it converts AC input into stable DC output. It's not rocket science, but to some audiophiles it might as well be.
Not all power supplies are created equal. Also, the cleaner the power going into the power supply the clean you will get out. Paul has stated that dedicated lines and AQ power cords improve the sound of his power regenerator. Case in point.
@Douglas Blake to be clear, nothing is broken. The short answer is every component of the AC chain makes an audible difference. If you're looking for the absolute best you spend the money.
@Douglas Blake I only believe what I hear. I have no time for measurements or silly articles that claim snake oil. You're so lucky you're an audiophile. You can save so much money.
This is one of the best arguments I’ve ever heard for day drinking.
haha, what Uncle Paul wanted to say was your hifi will sound better at night because you would have had a few drinks and rolled a fat one! 😂
@@jdekong3945 Lmao
Our perception of music is highly depending on mood and also what our eyes are seeing. A dark room with our eyes not loading the brain with inputs allows our brain to focus more on the music.
Exactly !!
He addresses this idea in the video.
Yes! circadian rhythms and Psychoacoustics!
Yes; one other thing theres been alot of research showing that listening at lower levels with lower background sound allows the brain to magnify the sound more and bring out inner detail. Same reason we evolved to be able to hear predators better at night in the forest/jungle
So true, the Music sounds better when you want to just get into it w a nice stereo system that's Why I try not to listen to music at work or when its just on. Its better to Wait, it also sounds better when driving to a Event like a concert! or going to meet friends.
AC wall power aside, a more likely explanation is your circadian rhythm. In the evening, melatonin is released in your body, your core temperature goes up, your heart rate goes down. Bottom line, your body relaxes and prepares for sleep (in the morning, the opposite happens). Your senses dull somewhat and, as far as music goes, you’re not as well equipped for critical listening as you may be during day light hours. Everything will sound smoother and more rolled off, not unlike what happens if ever so mildly intoxicated (no, it’s not a he-he joke about drinking). This is the same reason your car engine will sound smoother when driving at night as opposed to during the day.
Well thought out hypothesis but just not true.
@@carlosoliveira-rc2xt or are both true ...
This is far more plausable than claming that daytime noise on the AC power input can't be easily filtered out without complete power regeneration.
@@0x07AF in addition to the shape of the voltage, a big problem is the absorption due to the current peaks required by the power supply stage of the amplifier. and this problem is not solved by voltage regenerators, buffer cells are needed
sure, there is a -bit- of truth there but this doesnt explain why its always exactly the same, every night compared to day, specially since im also a person who sometimes goes to sleep at 4PM and wake up at 1AM ... just feeling the same and (for me) the stereo just seems to really open up after around 2AM .... till around 5-6AM (which is not coincendetal i think since its exactly around that time "normal people" sleep and non-24h-industry is shut off
Hmmm, and here I thought it was the addition of bourbon to the system at night.
Nope. Just the subtraction of Hmmm from your system.
I have witnessed this multiple times. For a long time I would schedule my listening sessions between 3-5:30 am. Now it makes sense.
We probably also shouldn't dismiss the psychological element: A nice evening, you've done your chores, had a nice dinner.... time to relax and listen to some music. Perhaps it's just a more enjoyable setting to really enjoy listening to music and appreciate your system?
I don't want to dismiss the power quality argument, but this should be easily measurable with a null-test or something. Personal enjoyment based on your state of mind at the moment is not really measurable, while that stuff has a much larger impact. Your mind always plays tricks on you, especially when it comes to audio and music!
Im with the physiological comments. Soundstage much better in a dark room. I don't see the components as much so my brain is not restricting sound to the speakers. Also a couple drinks helps get into the music better.
smoking a joint is also a good way to get lost in the music.
I believe music perception is to great extent dependent on your mind state. We have a different mindset in the evening and this helps to enjoy music more. if you're tired it will influence your music percption. The same music, the same system - one day you feel great stereo and dynamic range, another day everything feels kind of flat. Most probably clean power supply in th evening adds to that, but I still believe state of mind is the key here.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
I was always under the impression music sounds better at night because our brains are more relaxed.
Doesn't power collect and smooth out in the caps anyway? Then the amp draws that clean power later... Just because a pipe filling a tank with water is tumultuous doesn't mean that the water in the holding tank is tumultuous. The tank full of water is calm.
Music always sounds better with the lights out. Even during the day, we used to pull the shades.
I will tell my neighbours you told me to listen to my system at night, so I don't get the flac(k)
3 am is the best!
Remember too that night comes after cocktail hour! I might give some credence to power quality issues in Jakarta, but in most North American residential neighborhoods, the power quality is the same 24/7.
Sounds good, but I have also noticed that my car stereo sounds better when driving around at night. Thoughts?
Streets are more empty at night, letting you drive with less stops, which charges your car's battery more evenly 🥴😂
If you are listening to an over the air transmission in your car it could be different at night due to reflection off of the ionosphere.
@Douglas Blake, yes, notice that I said different rather than better.
nancy4don
At night noise level is lover, so you hear a better dynamic contrast. The mose gain is in the bass region it sounds fuller and thanks to that, midrange and highs getting sharper definition.
Its all psychological.
Very good explanation. To look into regenerating power supply. Which company would you recommend to start my research?
In most industrialized countries, they turn off their electric train services between 1 in the evening to 5 in the morning to check the tracks and service the trains. During my college days back in 1992, we connected an oscilloscope to the mains in our lab in time for the noonish 11:45 tram. It turned from a regular sine wave into a waveform that seems to eminate from Jimi Hendrix's Strat - albeit only for a fraction of a second.
1990s era "grunge mains"?
Absolutely sounds better at night, in fact after 10 PM is the twitching hour! Further I have noticed a definite power cycle: three weeks of good power, one week of excellent power and one week of CR**!
but your hi-fi is running on dc; so you've already transformed and smoothed it
you only need to convert to dc once
You are absolutley correct.
@@0x07AF Paul is secretly admitting his products don't have adequate power supplies ; my take is why would anyone trust this guy ?
For me, sometimes in the morning audio sounds a bit high pitched.
And at night, it sounds like it's being slowed down, yet playing at it's normal rate.
Almost like music playing on a cassette where you can adjust the speed. Except the music is playing at a normal rate, it's the audio that is switching pitches.
My father worked at a power plant. They always got some extra big turbines started up on Sunday to Monday nights to have them going full power when on Monday mornings all moms switched on the washing machines 😁
They always kept the power supply through the grid reliable and stable 24/7 for decades without any interruption. No sound differences when on that grid.
Why were you in Jakarta? Is your equipment made there? Which country’s power did you look at on the scope? Does the country or grid matter? Where is your equipment mainly sold? Can we see the pictures of the ‘flat topping’ at night and the phase shift in the country where you sell most of these units? No? Why not? What’s a rectifier?
I owned two P-300’s which were absolutely jaw-dropping on first listen. But I didn’t have a quiet listening room so the ambient noise was also less in the evening. Now I have a P-12 in my current system but still have ambient noise in my new apartment.
I always wonder about air density affecting sound waves. Humidity, air quality, rain. I would assume the air can get thicker and thinner just like a liquid affecting the how the the sounds waves travel through it.
Total BS.
AC. No matter how dirty is converted to DC by the power supply in the amplifier.
My biggest factor of sound perception is actually my mental state of mind. If my mind is occupied with other stuff, I can't interpret many things from the music. Nor can I appreciate it. But if I'm at ease, and my only focus is my music, I'm able to critically listen and almost each time I do, I pick up nuances that I never did before. I just find that we spend more time focusing on the output system and minimal time on the recipient, which is the listener:)
I'd need to see some measurement data from the power input to the signal output of the amplifier for this one. A properly isolated and filtered AC to DC input isn't difficult and I've never seen AC line noise that can't be easily filtered out by standard methods. If the AC line source was bad enough to circumvent input filtering under typical conditions it would be very worthy of measurement data-backed publication. My opinion leans heavily toward a human physiological or psychological element here.
paul is simply admitting his products come with inadequate power supplies; cyrus have played this trick with their amps, the upgrade being a proper power supply.................................why manufacturers keep on getting away with this crap is beyond me
I have ps audio regenerator and many fancy expensive cables, but it still sounds better at night. Way better :)
Traffic provides vibration at 7Hz 400x greater than the tweeters movement when creating music. Get Townshend Audios seismic products and decouple speakers and electronics from 2,5 Hz instead of usuall 30 Hz (Isoacoustics, Sorbothane etc). Only when you address power regeneration and traffic vibrations will you get late night listening daytime.
@@NiclasMardfelt I have fancy nordost cones for all the boxes and even more fancy TAOC stand. Yes they alll do input in to quality. Buuuuuut it still sounds way better at night :)
From my experience, my thought would be the change in outdoor temperature at night. Since Indonesia is 230 Volts 50 HZ the voltage variation would be less of an issue. That may not be true if you live far from the city. Then voltage problems will occur since you are at the end of the line, so to speak. PS Audio does make a 230 V 50 Hz unit that would take care of any voltage issues.
I can relate to many a late night listening sessions where the power is better. In the fall when it's cooler and not everybody is using their ac it can sound good as well. If your in a building where multiple people are using the same ac you can see the difference when say many are not home at work or out of town.
Shouldn't power supply filter capacitors completely remove the noise in the power line? Why convert it to DC, back to AC and then back to DC again?
i wonder if atmospherics also make a difference?
@Douglas Blake And how about humidity and temperature, and a combination of all - including atmospheric pressure?
Night is quieter and according to our mood we are more relaxed and focused
This may apply to countries with 120V power supply. Not so much with 240V standard. Also ambient noise make a huge difference. My listening room is not ideal and in that day I can measure 49db when the fan and AC is off. In the night same room measures around 36db.
Don't forget you're here forever...
Do it for her.
Thanks Paul. What I still find hard to believe that it seems you tell us that even the best PS-Audio devices don't have a good enough power supply to handle any kind of AC input. As far as I understand the power supplies in each device convert the AC into lower voltage DC. Shouldn't that be possible, perfectly possible, with any AC input?
good quality gear has a good-quality pwr supply, obviously PS Audio's gear doen't
@@johnholmes912 Paul obviously wants to sell power regenerators to audiophiles. I agree that a power supply should filter all frequencies higher than the fundamental. That's what capacitors are for. In the case of a power supply, the fundamental is 0 Hz, so the power supply should filter out everything above 0 Hz. In fact, it should be much easier to filter out high frequencies than low frequencies. Thus the idea of RF causing a power supply problem is largely myth. Also, if a 60 Hz mains is "flat topping", that means there are some harmonic frequencies creeping in that are higher than 60 Hz, based on Fourier analysis. Therefore, a filter should easily be able to eliminate these, even on a power line.
Fully agree that poor power supply waekens a system.
Anyway, I experienced over many years that my level of relaxation significantly alters the perception of listening. Most exciting to me are those late night sessions when I am close to falling asleep, but still awake enough to listen to alle the details.
Typically, I then can take back volume significantly without getting the impression of flat sound.
What also helps is to do a quick 2 min breathing exercise to calm stress levels down to make listening far more enjoyable.
Most likely, it's a good combination of both - sound power and relaxed mood.
You right on that. I use power conditioner, even though not the best solution, but found big help, sounds from speakers and at times sound from my arcam receiver where eliminated by puritan brand power supply and conditioner. Also use good quality hdmi and speakers wire. I picked van den hul for wires. I picked these brands after lengthy research.
Now, will look into power regenerating method and cost.
With above upgrades I found the quality of sound and pictures were much better and refined. This could be subjective so brought in family members to confirm if there were differences. Answer was quite a lot differences. Compared to cheaper brands and manufactured in China.
The power plant converts the incoming AC to DC, not caring about .....
An amplifier converts the incoming AC to DC, So where is the difference?
The amp doesn’t convert it back to AC.
Talking about sales pitch, why don't you take one of those power plants of yours and show us the before and after logs at both day and night in a future video
With unregulated voltage rails this makes sense but with Bob Carvers "Tracking Down Converter " power supply in his Sunfire amplifiers it tracks the incoming signal and keeps the voltage to the output transistors a constant 6V above what is needed at that instant in time so a varying line voltage does not affect performance one bit. Too bad Sunfire does not make power amps anymore as they are also load invariant and sound as good as much pricier amps. But this begs the question why don't manufacturers use voltage regulators for their power rails?
@Douglas Blake On Carver's older "Magnetic Field Coil" amplifiers he used a small triac (on a small heatsink) on the input of his transformer (field coil) to keep his low, medium and high voltage rails constant with enough current to drive rather current hungry Magnepan speakers. All of his Sunfire "tracking Down Converter" powered amplifiers use only the chassis and unvented cover as a heat sink for the regulator and output transistors and they only got a little warm. These amps were load invariant with his 600watt amp able to deliver 4000 watts into a 1 ohm load which equates to 63 amps (on a time limited basis) and were stable with a 3/4 ohm load.
what do you think of power conditioners with power cell?
My roommate made an excellent point. IT'S THE SUN.
Your roommate is correct, although it’s not the sun light in itself but rather how your body reacts to day versus night.
@@thomass.9167 i think you are right, circadian rhythms!
Does LED lamps and dimmers affect too?
I have a change in sound att home. I might be little crazy and wrong, but it appears that this change come att same time that we changed from regular lights to LED lighting, and ofc few dimmers.
I still have the differnts betwwin night and day (even weekends)
But the "good houers" is not so good anymore. :(
I know, myt systems is not ps audio qualety, and ofc could been foulty of age. (Tho the oldest system does not seem to be the most affected)
so i do wonder of the LED's and the dimmers...
@Douglas Blake Actually, when the sound is bad, oven, and toaster seem to have reduced effekt. Even the waffle iron is cooking uneven.
The surround system, an Harman Kardon get some differences in the static when operating the dimmers. But really not so much.
My Stereo system, with and really old NAD 216 THX. Does not seem to change anything when operating the dimmers.
Both are affected when ovens etc seems to lose effectivity.
I know my house have some of the oldest power lines in my area, connected to the oldest transformator. with old 220V system..
Rest of the area is having new 400V to all houses, then use Neutral actively for 230 applications (Im not sure on details of that, but supposedly much more stable)
And there is some industry using same old transformator close to me.
So perhaps i am mistaking to blame the led's and dimmers. If so, that be good when im moving in few months. Tho home with new lines connected to a new transformator who only share with residential homes.
@Douglas Blake That is my conclusion too I(Googled this after first post)
Lukelly i already bought new apartment, and trough google i found out some power grid information in this area.
My new apartment, who is still in building fase.
Is getting brand new power lines, according to latest specs and rules, and dedicated transformators for the apartment building and private homes in the area. Who is over constructed for stability and future enhancements.
And the did same with internet fiber optics.. so i got little lucky there. Coz before i was not so much aware of these types of issues.
Well, but in any HiFi System works internally with DC. So all the magic with DC and filtering is already going on without external power regenerator. Why not just only better filtering, i.e. biger low ESR caps within the devices?? Chris
Have to disagree if you've got a bank of storage capacitors any topping off of the sine wave should be stable with an isolation transformer
This is hilarious, someone needs to do an audiophile mockumentory, as per spinal tap. It's simply because people are generally more relaxed at night.
Years ago I bought a power conditioner. My house is detached with no near neighbors. Using the conditioner made no difference that I could detect so I put it in the attic. A dozen years ago, I got a condo in the mountains. I can't make a lot of noise there, so I put in a moderate quality system. It didn't sound very good so after a while I dug out the power conditioner and boy, what a difference. I assume that with so many close neighbors there is a lot more junk in the line.
A few days ago I scoped the power at a retail store in a significantly large shopping center.
What did I see? Flat-topped fuzz and frazzle?
Nope. Nearly perfect waveform. Clean.
It’s called Insomnia.
Ah yes my chicadee,
A demonstration of your device would be in order here. Let's see the oscilloscope show yhe difference. 🤔😉🙂✅
In this situation I would bet you money it has more to do with the temperature difference between the day and evening. Hot temperatures can degrade the sound due to the performance of the drivers as they are affected by extreme heat.
Interesting. I always thought sound was better at night because there is less sunlight stimulating vision and therefore making hearing more sensitive.
I have PS Audio P12 Powerplant and it made a dramatic difference for the better in my system. I was skeptical when I bought it and figured they have a generous return policy but when I put it in my system...there was no way it was going back.
How much did that bad boy cost?
More than my entire system and I’ve never heard anything better than my system.
@@9mmmike642 Cool. If I ever win the lottery I'll invest in one :)
@@9mmmike642 your entire system costs less than $5,000 and you've never heard anything better? You need to get out more. ;)
We all have biases towards our own systems. Biggest system I've listened to was a a $50,000 pair of speakers. They were exceptional. I still like my system better with regards to soundstage, but i recognize where that system is better. Tone and dynamics. Maybe i can't have it all, but I'm certainly gonna try now that I've heard what's possible.
@@LunarLightLtd1 if most of the money in expensive wouldn't go in optical bullshit - go hear accuton drivers in a baffle wall with digital crossover - way way cheaper and better than most of the expensive floor speakers
Well explained my mate...regards Antony...
True , I have experience the same with my system,I have tried lot of power conditioners but nothing happened
In any case, a great headphone system can solve most problems unless you're diametrically opposed to headphones or need complete mobility when listening.
Honestly, I only listen to music / movies at night anyway after work.. so thats good to know i dont need to use money on a regenerator to help with audio quality!
This applies also at weekends or holidays and other public festivals when many sectors of economy are at day off. Off course, running an audio systems only on such occasions isn't the solution.
Night - No distractions - time for love, spirits, wine, beer, root beer, Seven Up, Coke Dr Pepper- music will always sound better unless the neighbors complain! Of course, a P12 or P15 will definitely help!
Maybe you are more relaxed at night. Also, music sounds better if the air is more humid than dry.. I listen in complete darkness because my ears are not competing with my sight. This improves the sound stage dramatically. Looking at your equipment while listening is the worst thing you can do and that includes the speakers. If you cant make the room dark during the day, then put a black sound transparent curtain in front of the speakers from one wall to the other. Also, don't have your electronics between the speakers. They should be put say halfway along one of the side walls.
It happen to me a lot, but not every night. To me, it's my brain more than any other factors. I know for sure because I use a DAP and a pair of IEM, it has nothing to do with AC power. It does not have wireless charging capability yet.
Interesting. So when I’m mastering an artists song referencing at night might yield a different result.
What do you think? If you changed something in your monitoring system, would that alter the end result, or would you be able to compensate for the change?
In the military you learn that at night air pressure is higher because it's cooler. This has the effect of sound carrying further
If it is audible, it is measurable. Show the measurements of what comes out of the speakers, and relate it to audibility research. Also, components convert the AC to DC internally, so no problem with funky line AC (within reasons). Here line voltage drops in summer to 90 V or so, and that is a problem. So I added a Furman voltage regulator. As far as I know PS PP cannot deal with low line voltage.
I would assert that the reason the system sounds better at night is for Psychoacoustics reasons and the circadian rhythms that occurs with all living things (that is physical, mental, and behavioral that happen throughout the day). The power quality as asserted here would only be a factor in poor quality power supplies. Furthermore this assertion would be easy to test with blind A/B testing.
Less traffic at night, things are quieter
Late at night ambient noise from the environment is much much less... Quality of power has nothing to do with it. Comeon Paul 😕😕😕
Indeed, not to mention circadian rhythms and Psychoacoustics
The quality of the power you feed your gear with has big impact how it sounds. I am running my gear straight from the wall without any filtering/regenerating. For me it sounds better in the late evening/night. Probably due to less disturbance on the grid. It's almost spooky how relaxed the music sounds/feels.
Playing music during daytime can sound very tense/stressed and I just want to turn it off.
@@rob_66 I believe it does sound better to you but that it's due to circadian rhythms and Psychoacoustics. A quality product's power supply should handle all the power conditioning needed. Only way to know for sure I'd blind listening tests.
@Douglas Blake don't know🤔, all my gear runs on a commonly power (240V 10A) with two neighbours below me. Power supplys in my gear is maybe more sensitive disturbance on the grid?
@@paulgyro Sure, maybe a combo of that, cleaner power and quieter enviroment in a city at night.
A friend of mine is musician and when they recorded an album it was all done at night. He asked the studio technician, why?
Short answer: Sounds better, cleaner power.....
The fear of harassing neighbours therefore making you keep a threshold on the bass and volume does nothing but offer you a never ending sweetener. A line you mustn’t cross. Psychological.
Please tell this to my neighbours
music sounds better at night:
- cleaner power frequency: better electronics signal to noise ratio
- less ambient sounds/ street noise: better acoustic signal to noise ratio
- brain switches from local attention to mind wandering before sleep
- slowed reflexes, slowed mental accuity and toned down eyesight due to tiredness, but higher sound sensitivity due to instincts.
- changing air pressure and temperature due to nighttime cooling/ indoor heating.
- psychology: mental state of having finished the day.
Would be interesting to hear about running an audio system on solar panels.
A solar system takes DC from the panels and converts it to AC using an inverter. Today that means high frequency, like over 50khz, chopping the DC into AC and then filtering the HF out. A loose analogy is a switch mode power supply running backwards. So in theory that would be the worst source of power for an audio system. But in reality it doesn't matter. The impedance of the power grid is so low the effects of these solar inverters result in very little noise injected back into the AC line. All this AC power quality FUD for home HiFi is just that. A scam to sell audiophile products at outrageous prices. Yes power quality is important like in a data center or lab with highly sensitive gear. But there is an entire industry serving this need on a professional level with commercial UPS systems.
Thanks, that's helpful.
AlIEnS are recharging their cloaking devices during the day and it effects the power grids. The poor pictures the Navy gets of them is when their juice is running low and they forgot to return to the mothership on time.
Actually, my understanding is that the spacemen are working with Paul on next gen cloaking devices that will use a much cleaner electricity to fix this problem, something called The McGowan Coil,
My system sounds best before 3 PM. That's because it's in my home office and in the afternoon I'm so tired of all the audio conferences that my hearing goes down. I get the best listening experience during focus time and when I take breaks.
Wow fascinating
It's human physiology as much as the AC quality.
@Douglas Blake 1% is more than enough. it justifies any purchase, if u got the money. actually 0% difference would do it as well, why? coz some pple appreciate quality components/etc regardless wether they do anything to sound.
ps audio products apparently come with inadequate power supplies
My electrostatics sound better in winter than in summer, maybe for the same reasons Paul is talking about here? Interesting story.
I also have electrostatics. Although my speakers are stable with climate changes I know some can react to humidity as this can affect the diaphragm bias charge.
Humidity should not affect electrostatics in good condition, unless an extreme variation. Do your speakers take a while to charge up and reach full volume? If so, this may indicate the resistive coating on the diaphragm has deteriorated and the high voltage bias is struggling to spread over the diaphragm. How old are your speakers? They may need some renovation. No box speaker comes close to the startling reality you hear from a good pair of full range electrostats.
@@geoff37s38 My speakers are Martin Logan Quests, around 30 yrs old, sound great except sometimes in the summer months, when they seem to have a harsher harder sound kind of like a bad recording, but the recording is not the issue (hope that made sense!)
@@aakar88 yes understood. May be worth having them checkd out, depends how much it bothers you, i do not know where you live but you may find a business nearby that renovates electrostats.
@@geoff37s38 Thank you for the reply and interest! I have talked to M&L, they recommend replacing the electrostat panel. but I am reluctant to do that as the issue is more "a live with it" type and the bottom end seeming to cause it ( ie hardness of sound and poorly defined bass)
WOW!!! i have noticed that too but thought it was just in my head!!
@Douglas Blake didnt you watch the video? he said its from the amount of clean power!!
@Douglas Blake how the hell am i supposed to know you were making a joke??
@Douglas Blake well matter of fact yes they are!!! its not something to joke about either! i hate taking a shit!!
@Douglas Blake i get you!
Great video as usual
ok. Paul . FRON COSTA RICA . THANKIO
More detailed at cold winter time than hot summer 🤪🤪
AC/DC Yeah!
Think You already had this question .
I saw people actually sharing and believing this which is sad. The comments give mixed feelings - some people realize how much of a ridiculous nonsense it is, which is promising, but some really buy this? :(((
I know right? i thought people that were into Hi-Fi gear would be a little more intelligent than this. But it seems to be that many of them are very easily fooled.
Oh. My. God. Instead of explaining how big is a difference between day and night in mains distortion, how does amplifier power supply works, what are typical amp voltages and what are typical distortion of these voltages due to mains higher harmonics, there is this "beautiful story" / sales pitch (as Paul himself calls it) about importance of turning mains AC to DC then to "better" AC to be later turned into DC again in amplifier power supply itself... Com'on, if it is not poorly made DIY power supply or amp objectively it will not be different. Best of luck and congratulations - a great sales pitch, Sir!
C’mon man! - Joe Biden
this is the only explanation I have heard for this phenomenon...
I thought it was true but most say no difference in sound dark vs light
Max Townshend is of the opinion that traffic gives seismic activities around 7Hz, the same as earthquakes, giving vibrational smear in electronics, cables and speakers. In tweeters, 400x more ground movement than the tweeters on movement then creating music. That is why Townsend’s seismic products decouples from 2,5 Hz and are best in class. Conclusion, you have to address vibration from very low frequencies and address power regeneration to have late night listening quality daytime.
Is it also after a couple glasses of wine?
Professional audio people also know that it is often to do with temperature.. (look it up)
isn't this similar to a double conversion UPS
Well, I would say that cleaner power is a factor, but I bet that a silent environment helps and lower overall RFI, solar radiation, etc.
Paul, denonstrative, why not SHOW us your regenerator graphs?
Why stereo systems sound different at night?
Oh damn !!! I forgot to turn on the Air Conditioner no wonder why the music sounds so hot in my living room !!!
Is this effect measurable in the sound coming out of the speakers? It would be great to get the subjective ears of a human out of the equation
it is much better to reproduce the two cases and then pass to an abx test. no measurements are needed. case a with dirty power supply (a dirty power supply can be built) and case b with clean power supply. the problem is not the lack of measurements but to establish reliably if the differences are really audible and above all recognizable
What is super odd is that it's like you read my mind. I was just thinking to myself, gosh my hifi sounds better at the mo (23:15 uk time). Then I see this video pop up. Spooky!
I've never heard this theory before...
Would a stereo system running off a quality inverter and battery also be worthy?
@Douglas Blake Even quality ones such as Victron? Ive heard they are very clean even under heavy load.
How this Power Regenerator looks like...
Indonesia? I press like.
Could also be the effect of melatonin that increases at night!
Seriously!!
Indeed a possibility, circadian rhythms!
Infact, sounds a lot more feasible to me.
Remind me: what's the function of the power supply section in every component? Oh, that's right: it converts AC input into stable DC output. It's not rocket science, but to some audiophiles it might as well be.
Are you saying that the dc power supply compensates or corrects or makes it unimportant if lousy ac power is coming from the electric company?
Not all power supplies are created equal. Also, the cleaner the power going into the power supply the clean you will get out. Paul has stated that dedicated lines and AQ power cords improve the sound of his power regenerator. Case in point.
@Douglas Blake to be clear, nothing is broken. The short answer is every component of the AC chain makes an audible difference. If you're looking for the absolute best you spend the money.
@Douglas Blake may I suggest two cotton swabs for you to clear out some of that wax buildup. The return on investment worth while.
@Douglas Blake I only believe what I hear. I have no time for measurements or silly articles that claim snake oil. You're so lucky you're an audiophile. You can save so much money.
:-)) one of the funniest videos I've ever seen.
I thought it was the xtc