PS Audio Noise Harvester AC Cleaner Review

[sergeauckland]

I suppose if you can hear something because you expect to then you can also not hear something when you expect not to.

That's Expectation Bias, it works both ways.
That's why I'm not a suitable subject for much blind testing as I don't expect to hear a difference, and guess what, I don't!

S.

 

[Count Arthur]

If an audiophile falls over in a forest and his wife can hear it from the kitchen, how many apples does John have?

 

[Shorty]

If an audiophile falls over in a forest and his wife can hear it from the kitchen, how many apples does John have?

This is of course impossible to answer unless you know at what time exactly John’s train left the station.

 

[SIY]

This is of course impossible to answer unless you know at what time exactly John’s train left the station.

The bear is white.

 

[Judas]

Greg, I am sure you have heard audiophiles many times say, "I heard a difference even though I did not expect to hear it!" The power of the force is strong with tweeky audiophiles!

Remember, people believing in such things assume their ears are absolute and no one is to question what they think they "hear." To that end I object to you questioning what I hear!!!

Hello to you AMRM:l"
Your vast experience with audiophiles would mean you know they are hardly monolithic. I don't know audio0hiles who claim there hearing is absolute. The audiophile landscape is littered with skeptics. To me a statement like : all dacs "sound the same" is an absolute." It appears at least on this forum such absolutes are okay if they are based on measurements.
When it comes to sound reproduction the ear/brain interface is paramount. Its' (sound reproduction) sole purpose is to make us hear something. I see nothing wrong with trying to determine a stimulus for a particular response. Remember. if the ear/brain could not be tricked stereo would not work.
Your opinion can and probably does differ.

 

[Judas]

I retailed home audio for 9 years and the customers heard what they where told to hear and what they where told not to hear. I sold on the merit of the product and quality but some salespeople did not.

Shame on you. I was never a salesman, but I did hang out at stores. The most difficult job was to convince anybody of anything. They usually bought what they came in looking for. Anectdotal evidence of course.

 

[JustJones]

European or African?

 

[Doodski]

They usually bought what they came in looking for.

That was both my fault and my positive attribute as a salesperson. I near always up-sold or side-sold instead of taking the easier path of selling them whatever they had in mind. It takes way more effort and work and there is the risk that they may buy elsewhere but I had the highest audio department margins in the history of the company of about 750 employees and a great customer base of loyal customers after about 1.5 years. After 2 years I was so busy I couldn't keep up with the customers asking for me.

 

[Judas]

I don't expect to hear a difference, and guess what, I don't!

S.

your work here is done.

 

[amirm]

Your vast experience with audiophiles would mean you know they are hardly monolithic. I don't know audio0hiles who claim there hearing is absolute.

Among the ones we both know, I don't know any that are so. Remember what they say, "I trust my ears." Damn the brain in between them....

Remember. if the ear/brain could not be tricked stereo would not work.

Psychoacoustics easily explains that. There is not an explanation in the world that explains this "noise harvester" improves your audio. Yet our common friends would think it can and does ("everything matters"). Heck, some think putting a coaster under your gear for $300 each will do that even better! According to them, such has the power to go beyond stereo reproduction and put you in the live stage of music reproduction!

You have to accept that they are sensing something in changing their gear no mater how useless that thing is. If so, then my original statement is correct: a false sense of improvement fades away and motivates them to repeat the cycle.

 

[001]

This is of course impossible to answer unless you know at what time exactly John’s train left the station.

I'm sorry, John has a tuba and Steve was on the tram. How much paint do you need? However, I can definitely hear what she's seeing.

 

[BDWoody]

I'm sorry, John has a tuba and Steve was on the tram. How much paint do you need?

I'm surprised people are still going on about this...

The answer is, of course, 42.

 

[GXAlan]

Apologies if this has been suggested before, but given that it the harvester has a blinky light to show it's "cleaning" the mains, has anyone tried one on perfectly clean mains, perhaps by plugging it into one of PS Audio's own regenerators, or an isolation transformer, something like that?

Does the light still blink?

It doesn’t blink with a regenerator.

it also decreases the high frequency noise reported by Ting monitoring device.

No audible differences which is also confirmed by the AP measurements. I am sure there may be some combination of factors (perhaps with poorly regulated power supplies) where there can be a difference in the audioband.

 

[QuadDiffusor]

I have two P20s, and the Noise Harvesters definitely blink like crazy when plugged into any of the duplex outlets - I’m using the NHs merely as indicators to let me know which duplexes are powered “on”. Powerplant AC regenerators are bandwidth-limited, perhaps to increase their amplification efficiency, and do not “filter” AC line noise above 1kHz.
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/powerplant-peak-current-and-noise-filtering-capability/18560/6

 

[Judas]

[QUOT="amirm, post: 687619, member: 2"]Among the ones we both know, I don't know any that are so. Remember what they say, "I trust my ears." Damn the brain in between them....

You and I have discussed this before with no resolution. Indeed we have no choice. We must trust our ear/brain. Can a cook not trust his taste buds? Can an artist not trust his eyes?


Psychoacoustics easily explains that. There is not an explanation in the world that explains this "noise harvester" improves your audio. Yet our common friends would think it can and does ("everything matters"). Heck, some think putting a coaster under your gear for $300 each will do that even better! According to them, such has the power to go beyond stereo reproduction and put you in the live stage of music reproduction!

Again you generalize from the specific. I have no experience with the Noise Harvester. Nor do I offer a specific defense of the Noise Harvester. It is your editorial comments I tooisk sue with. They are decidedly "unscientific" but you present them as though they are.

You have to accept that they are sensing something in changing their gear no mater how useless that thing is. If so, then my original statement is correct: a false sense of improvement fades away and motivates them to repeat the cycle.

I have no idea what they are sensing. Nor do I know the product or people of which you speak. That makes it difficult or impossible to rebut. This is a hobby. There may be any number of valid reasons to change equipment. The number one reason is does not match real music in real space. You may simply have more money. Todays' exception becomes tomorrows standard. We tend to accept the methodology that supports our preconceived ideas. That's human nature.[/QUOTE[/QUOTE]

 

[JohnYang1997]

[QUOT="amirm, post: 687619, member: 2"]Among the ones we both know, I don't know any that are so. Remember what they say, "I trust my ears." Damn the brain in between them....

You and I have discussed this before with no resolution. Indeed we have no choice. We must trust our ear/brain. Can a cook not trust his taste buds? Can an artist not trust his eyes?


Psychoacoustics easily explains that. There is not an explanation in the world that explains this "noise harvester" improves your audio. Yet our common friends would think it can and does ("everything matters"). Heck, some think putting a coaster under your gear for $300 each will do that even better! According to them, such has the power to go beyond stereo reproduction and put you in the live stage of music reproduction!

Again you generalize from the specific. I have no experience with the Noise Harvester. Nor do I offer a specific defense of the Noise Harvester. It is your editorial comments I tooisk sue with. They are decidedly "unscientific" but you present them as though they are.

You have to accept that they are sensing something in changing their gear no mater how useless that thing is. If so, then my original statement is correct: a false sense of improvement fades away and motivates them to repeat the cycle.

I have no idea what they are sensing. Nor do I know the product or people of which you speak. That makes it difficult or impossible to rebut. This is a hobby. There may be any number of valid reasons to change equipment. The number one reason is does not match real music in real space. You may simply have more money. Todays' exception becomes tomorrows standard. We tend to accept the methodology that supports our preconceived ideas. That's human nature.[/QUOTE

[/QUOTE]
Not every living huamn is a cook or artist. It's the job of the music writers and the producers.

A closer example would be a cook doing some fancy hand movement on your dish and letting you to believe it will tastes a lot better. And some people claims the air the hand movement moves change the temperature and smell of the dish enhancing the taste.

EQ and compressor are something producers would use to shape the sound. Music lovers will very likely to totally screw their sound up due to the lack of experience and trained ears. Just like some one goes to restaurant and add loads of black pepper and honey to every dish. That's screwed up.

 

[Taddpole]

Maybe if we plug the Harvester into Judas it can reduce the noise he's producing.

 

[BDWoody]

Can a cook not trust his taste buds? Can an artist not trust his eyes?

I'd say these would both be involved in the creation of art.

If I like the artists art, or the chefs food, I trust their ability to create that art.

That has nothing to do with me comparing it to another piece of art, or replicating it. How is that relevant to needing controls when doing listening tests?

Maybe that's the thing...a lot of audiophile types want to consider themselves part of the art creation process.

I'll leave the art to the artists, and the engineering to the engineers.

 

[mhardy6647]

What I want to know: when is the Noise Harvester II: Special Edition coming out?
It will, of course, feature a multicolor LED, indicating the relative magnitude of the bad thing that it is harvesting.
It will feature a phone app that will allow the sucker end user to select linear or logarithmic scaling -- of course.
McIntosh's vacuum tube engineers are being used as consultants in the design.

Nostradamus predicted it: In the 21st Century, vacuum tubes will glow green.



... but I digress.

 

[Doodski]

Nostradamus predicted it: In the 21st Century, vacuum tubes will glow green.

Nostradamus was sipping too much magic mushroom tea and writing controversial centuries (today's inexpensive novels.) to make his living.