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.
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.
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
http://www.anstendig.org/
Take note on the three articles under Sound reproduction > The missing information in all cd recordings.
Pedja
Pedja said:
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?
Magic Sound In A Pill Bottle ?.................
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.
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.
Re: Magic Sound In A Pill Bottle ?.................
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 said:
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?
Horny Goat Weed ?...............
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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?
Rupert Neve gave an interview a couple of years ago, citing that digital audio could explain certain aggressive behaviour within our society, go here:
http://www.poonshead.com/articles.html#article1
For the notorious Oohashi study go here:
http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/83/6/3548
I look forward to the comments!
http://www.poonshead.com/articles.html#article1
For the notorious Oohashi study go here:
http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/83/6/3548
I look forward to the comments!
Hilarious. I didn't know Diamond was still around. This was all the rage in the underground magazines maybe 20 years ago. the tests he was doing then were laughable. And now he's selling "life enhancing supplements." Just hilarious.
Saaay, I just got some email from a guy who's selling a supplement guaranteed to extend my... uh-oh. Never mind.
Saaay, I just got some email from a guy who's selling a supplement guaranteed to extend my... uh-oh. Never mind.
SY said:
Ah, that was the kind of answer I expected to pop up sooner or
later. So then we just have to ask if he is mainly trying to sell
his drugs or if he is paid by Sony to say that PCM is dangerous
but DSD is OK.
You wouldn't happen to know anything about that Anstendig
Institute in SF that Pedja linked to? They give a more serious
impression and are non-profit, but there seems to be little
evidence of their claims. They are certainly studying interesting
things, if they just do it properly.
Christer said:
"Non-profit" means little over here. I can set up a group which pays me a nice salary, lets me travel to nice places, puts me up at nice hotels, and as long as I'm doing these things in the "service" of that organization, write the organization's charter in such a way that I assert that it's there for some public benefit, and I use up all the money every year, I'm a non-profit. It's more of a tax arrangement than any kind of imprimateur of qualification or objectivity.
My impression reading through their site is that they're one of a million goofy organizations for which California is famous. There must be 10,000 of them in San Francisco.
SY said:
I was afraid of that. Too bad, since they are doing or claim to do
certain very interesting and important things. Still, Mr Anstendig
must at least have some interest himself in what he does/claims to
do I suppose. He would hardly write up all those paper just
to get around the tax laws. Doesn't make his claims true, though.
SY said:
Yup. And just shows that degrees and "credentials" are no guarantee against quackery or charlatanism.
Mark Levinson (the man) hooked up with this clown a few years ago issuing a breathless press release about the harmful physical effects of digital audio, promising to soon produce a bunch of data to back it up.
As far as I'm aware, Levinson produced nothing.
I guess he found it more profitable to slap $2,000 pricetags on Chinese-made amplifiers that sell retail for $130.
se
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.