Digitalized music causing stress??

[Christer]

From Diamond buffers to Dr. Diamond

Does anybody know anything about this guy and the DBTs he
claims to have performed and the demonstrations he has made
at AES?
http://www.diamondcenter.net/digitalstress.html

Maybe he is serious, maybe not. In either case, he is obvously
trying to sell a product to "cure" the "digital fatigue", but what is
it? A pill? An electronic gadget? A turntable (well, for $25, probably
not)? I couldn't find anything about what the product actually is.

[eStatic]

I confess that I know only what I read in the link posted. But I think I've heard of this cure in other places and I'm pretty sure it's based on oil extracted from Crotalus Adamanteus.

[Pedja]

Did you know about this?
http://www.anstendig.org/

Take note on the three articles under Sound reproduction > The missing information in all cd recordings.

Pedja

[Christer]

Originally posted by Pedja
Did you know about this?
http://www.anstendig.org/

Take note on the three articles under Sound reproduction > The missing information in all cd recordings.

No, I had missed that. Very interesting indeed. They seem not
to have published anything in scientific publications and the
documents are mostly claims and references to expreiments and
studies that seem not documented, not on the site at least.
They do seem very serious in their purpose, though, and I would
agree on much of what they say from my own experience,
especially regarding the influence of sounds and vibrations on
humans and on stereo as a big non-event in recording history.
Obviously, Mr Anstendig himself has a genuine background in
music and photography according to his CV. It seem much of
the documentation of the studies is only available at the institute.
Hm, I wonder what a flight ticket to SF costs nowaday?

[mrfeedback]

A repairs colleague once told me that he has a psychologist customer who has observed this digital 'stress' factor also.
As I was told, this therapist had relaxation music on cassette tape that he used successfully in his client sessions.
When the cassettes wore out he bought cd copies and playing these to his clients caused them to climb the walls.
Dubbing these cds to cassette reduced the problem according to what I was told.

I find things like having a cdp just turned on but not playing can cause an irritating/disturbing effect - I do live sound on Friday nights, and the in-rack cdp puts a faint but unmusical veil into the FOH sound that disappears when it is turned off.
This applies to home hi-fi systems too in my experience.

There are remedies that minimise/eliminate the disturbing effect, but pills in a bottle are not ones that I have tried.
These therapists in the links are correct in describing 'digitalis', but in my view a little misguided in their solutions.

Eric.

[Christer]

Originally posted by mrfeedback

There are remedies that minimise/eliminate the disturbing effect, but pills in a bottle are not ones that I have tried.
These therapists in the links are correct in describing 'digitalis', but in my view a little misguided in their solutions.

Eric.

Yes, maybe it is digitalis?

Well, my point was that Dr. Diamond doesn't even tell us if ithis
product is a drug, or some electronic gadget (a filter) or whatever.
It is just sold as something to relieve, or cure, or whatever the
digital effect with no further description. Maybe it is just a pair
of earplugs for $25?

[mrfeedback]

Supplements
Life Energy Plus ($25.00)

Potentiated Life Enhancement.

Used to alleviate many of the negative effects of PCM "digital fatigue" It also demonstrably alleviates some of the negative e.m.f. effects of, for example, computers, TV, and mobile phones, all so much now a very large part of our daily lives.

He says Supplement, so I expect this means some kind of pills, probably herbal.
Hi-fi saleman and used car dealers have nothing on these kinds of therapists/experts in my view.
These guys are talking about patterns in the sound affecting health/mood etc and are correct in their observations, however the correct solution is in altering the sonic and RF radiation emitted by equipment and not in pill bottle or wine bottle form for that matter.
My systems and those I have modified for friends (including live systems) have no such negative effects, and distinctly positive ones and noticed by all users.

Eric.

[Christer]

Yes, I suppose the term "supplement" is clearer to you native
speakers. It cetainly souded like he is trying to sell a drug, but
considering the text of the article it seemed so improbable that
he would suggest some kind of drug as a cure. There are several
more or less serious actors in the sound/music therapy field but
none of those I know of recommend any drugs. To the contraty,
they propose their methods as alternatives to drugs. Well, (one
of) the first serious medical studies suggest a combination for
the cases they studied.

Maybe this Dr. Diamond suggests taking a drug to stand his
music therapy because it is now digital.

[eeka chu]

I think there is, without a great deal of doubt, truth in the idea that digitalized music causes stress...

What's interesting is to question why that might be the case. For example, why would we have evolved to prefer a more analog system? I suppose most life is, by definition, organic and analog in some way or another.

Perhaps we find complexity and randomness more useful? I would guess the more complex or random something is the more possibilities it has to evolve...

And that is why tubes are better than silicon!

[RHosch]

The universe appears to be inherently digital in nature. This notion of stress by digital fatigue is about as ridiculous as the offered cures. Perhaps the frequency response limitations of 44.1kHz, or any anti-aliasing artifacts present at the highest near-audible frequencies could contribute to such an effect, but then that is a limitation of redbook audio and not digital recording in general, is it not?