Fancy Interconnects? How about a potato, or even mud?

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Pano, great idea, great fun, first couple of runs on my computer system did not reveal any obvious differences.

I need more time to run it through Diffmaker, but first need to convert MP3 to wav.

I tried to download converters but got entangled in a web of installation requests for search bars, PC tune up programs and what have you.

Does anyone have a link to a good converter from a trustworthy source?
 
I'm sure you can get a difference in DiffMaker (the flac files should convert easily), the more interesting question is whether or not you can actually hear a difference. After all, if there's night and day audible differences between copper and silver or PVC and Teflon, you'd think that banana/potato vs copper or mud ought to be blatantly evident.
 
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yep, you'd hope it would be clear as...... mud.

To convert MP3 to wave should not be hard, I think there are a lot of free converters around. Audacity will do it (use "export" function) and it's free. It's a lot more than just a drag and drop converter, tho. Or how about Foobar?
 
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Did some fun experiments in the shop today. Sent a signal (a guy talking on a microphone) thru a banana, then thru a potato, then with the banana and the potato touching each other. Then we sent it thru the potato, 5 people holding hands, and back thru the banana.
There were many jokes about "Here - Hold my banana". :D

All worked flawlessly. It's very amusing to hear a voice going thru a fruit, a vegetable and a chain of 5 people. Everyone was astonished at how well it worked. There was a few dB attenuation, but no real change in the sound.

Try it yourself, amaze your friends!
 
Come to think of it, this is even stranger than I thought.

I don't know how to Google this and I never thought about it before, but there is a fundamentally different kind of electron flow going on than in normal conductors. No free electrons here. The transport must be ionic.

I would never have guessed that the propagation speed in ionic transport would be high enough for audio, altough I am sure someone must have measured it sometime.

P.s. with DC on the signal you might create your own oxigen, always a healthy combination with fruit.

Edit: what I mean with propagation speed is that two electro-chemical reactions need to take place at both cathode and anode, the electrons flow through the circuit, this goes fast enough :)
 
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Well the carpenter's pencil I used did not work. I may try again with another pencil.
En attendant a schematic, here is a quick photo.
 

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Most impressive that it is though the skin as well (of the fruit and potato, not to mention yours)!! I know that from playing around with the scope that I am great at picking up 50Hz, but I'm a terrible conductor not sure if an audio signal will pass though me unscathed ;)

Tony.
 
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Tony, there is a good bit of attenuation, banana and human much more than the potato.
But I think the input impedance of the circuit we used today is 10K. You gotta expect some attenuation.

I also sent video thru the potato, but that was much more difficult.
 
I had my year 7 classes doing that experiment.
Turning on the LED indicator in a soil moisture tester, using a human chain that they extended to 20 pupils standing in a big circle touching index finger tip to tip.
I never checked whether Pinkie tip to tip or Thumb tip to tip changed the bass response of the soil moisture tester.
 
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