Cupping hands behind ears while listening - WOW!

[neRok]

You are getting more direct sound. The fact that it sounds better, should encourage you to look at treating the room, especially first reflection points.

I've noticed this in the past. Testing it just now on PC system (ie nearfield), and it makes very little difference, which is good news for my room.

But lately I've also gotten back to using the stereo in my main living a bit more, but there is no treatment in that room, and it needs some. "Luckily" for me I had a few "DIY rockwool panels" laying around, so I've just been propping them up behind me when sitting on the couch. It definitely helps!

But actually, simply "sinking" in to the couch helps even more (so that my ears are below the top of the cushions).

 

[whereisbrian]

 

[Count Arthur]

But actually, simply "sinking" in to the couch helps even more (so that my ears are below the top of the cushions).

Maybe get a high backed chair. A white cat and a dueling scar would complete the look.

 

[neRok]

Maybe get a high backed chair. A white cat and a dueling scar would complete the look.

View attachment 458116

Hard back, tough surface, minimal padding — it's probably not good for relfections.

I think overpowering the reflections is probably the best way to go about it, like with Dave Rat's 120,000 Watt Relaxation Chair

 

[dasdoing]

You get comb-filtering, and the stereo image should decrease as you get more sound from the cross-channel that normally passes by your ear.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I can highly recommend a set of these to avoid unwanted lactic acid build up in your arms during extended listening sessions.

 

[neRok]

I can highly recommend a set of these to avoid unwanted lactic acid build up in your arms during extended listening sessions.

Some of us are born that way, AND I've already asked about the impact before.

my ears stick out a little (are more forward facing the usual)
...
So I'm wondering if my ears are impacting what I am hearing in my room in an unusual manor?

 

[Flaesh]

Is it a kind of "treble boost"

I think so. (while thinking is a sin (if data and knowledge are insufficient))
I did this thing years ago and checked it now. But we need to come up with a more objective test.

 

[mhardy6647]

I think so. (while thinking is a sin (if data and knowledge are insufficient))

Musing is a perfectly respectable pastime -- although, for best results, musing should always include a disclaimer.
Full Disclosure: I am musing here.

 

[neRok]

I was actually being serious in my first post in this thread, but it seems no one realised what I was implying.

The sound you hear (in rough values) is 1/3rd direct waves, 1/3rd 1st reflections, and 1/3rd reverberation. If you have a poorly treated room with high decay time, then that last source (reverberation) will be even stronger, as the waves can bounce around the more before they become irrelevant, which means more of them are likely to be heard by you. So in that situation the sound you hear might be 30:30:40. And the fact you hear the reverbaration over a longer time means the sound is "smeared", AND that means it is overlapping with new direct waves etc, and in effect "muddying" them.

So what you are doing with cupped hands is effectively shielding ~40% of the reverbaration from the back of the room, as these waves that would have gone in to your ear instead bounce off the back of your hand and then have to bounce around the room some more, loosing energy in the process. So IMO, that's where the increased "clarity" is coming from! It's the reduction in reverb heard. AND there would technically be a bit more "direct waves" heard, as a little bit of the direct wave that would have passed by your head and bounced off the back wall will now bounce off your palm and in to your ear. So that may sound like a "treble boost", because you've effectively made those long 1st reflections in to "direct waves" (technically they would be very short 1st reflections). So now the ratio of sound heard might be more like 40:35:25, and that's better!

And (IMO) this is why my treatment right behind the couch seems to work, and that's because their location changes the "angular" aspect of how much sound passes through them, as now those 2 panels are effectively treating ~40% of the reverb in the room instead of just the ~20% of the sound that would hit them if they were on A wall (which actually means they would only be treating 5% off all the walls). So yer, that's "40% of the walls treated" versus "5% of the walls treated", but the treatment is the same!

​

Waves that hit your ear after passing through a treatment-panel.​	Waves that pass through a treatment-panel but miss your head.​	The "angular" difference of the different treatment-panel positions.​
.​ .		. .

 

[Flaesh]

 

[neRok]

.

 

[BenB]

Or he hasn't one.

What an ignorant, uncalled for comment.

 

[Andysu]

Maybe get a high backed chair. A white cat and a dueling scar would complete the look.

View attachment 458116

a pussy vibrator seat

 

[Dumu]

Doing the ear-cup thing was one very simple little exercise that really exemplified to me just how much of an impact the room can have on sound in general. Given how much cupping your ear changes the sound, just imagine the impact something like a wall is going to have if you're sitting close to it.

I had a similar experience when I took a set of speakers to our summer cottage. Going from an apartment where every wall is prefab concrete slab to a log cabin changes the sound of speakers so much that it is not even funny.

It really cures the itch to buy better speakers when you know that you are never going to get the same kind of clarity as in the log cabin, no matter how much you spend.

 

[Andysu]

i often when pink noise or other sound calibration use the , hand orientation movement , so what i see on RTA i do double triple checks and ofren quadruple checks

 

[tmuikku]

You are getting more direct sound. The fact that it sounds better, should encourage you to look at treating the room, especially first reflection points.

Hi,
at first one could just shrink listening distance, cheap and takes only few seconds At some small enough listening distance/triangle you'll get the clarity happen, as room sound including early reflections change relative to direct sound. Acoustic treatment likely makes this happen at bit greater distance. You can find this distance experimentally, just move yourself closer and further from speakers to learn it. I think it's easiest to start with mono pink noise and listen size and clarity of the phantom image as you move, eyes closed.

You could adjust speaker spacing and toe-in as you learn to hear how the room affects, by moving back and forth.

 

[NotInYourHead]

I did this and it had a surprising effect, like revealing a hidden "layer" of sound.
The effect varies from song to song (some sounds more edgy and forward than usual, instead of just added details).
However, the most striking thing is the instruments in songs, which originally sound "stuck" or hard-panned to the R/L speakers, are placed in their respective places in the "3D soundstage" once I put my hands behind my ears.
Is this a sign my room needs treatment on the back wall or the front wall? It's completely bare currently.

 

[ohmywatt]

Headphones solves the problem

 

[Romario]

Headphones solves the problem

Headphones are not a real listening experience. Quite unnatural to put the speakers against your ears.