oben...@gmail.com
2021-07-26 10:46:15 UTC
Skin effect - a second chance at an audio effect
The usual message about skin effect and its impact on high frequencies is that these effects are way above audio frequencies so there is no effect on sound reproduction. But skin effect also occurs as a result of transients (1). Music play back can be full of short fast transients and these transients will push current towards the conductor’s surface.
Frequency skin effect is not a two state phenomenon but increases with frequency. what if transient skin effects are additive to frequency skin effects. If so would music frequency skin effects, under certain conditions, now be noticeable at audio frequencies? Do transients shift the skin effect and frequency curve?
Skin effects might deteriorate sound reproduction for the human ear - high frequency smearing. The effect would be music dependent as some music will be more transient rich compared to other music. And some transients will be larger. This suggests that the sound deterioration will appear inconsistent between users and within user systems.
Can we hear skin effect smearing? And what does it sound like? Is the impact of skin effect more prevalent with tinned or silver plated wire in the circuit? the plating material will have different electrical properties compared to the wire and this would argue for a greater effect. Sourcing the internet - a number of unprompted posts draw attention to the sound signature differences between plated and unplated wire - mainly that silver plated wire sounds bright and hard in the upper frequencies.
There might be other phenomena acting on skin effect. anything that impacts the magnetic field could potentially have an impact on skin effect: microphony? solid or braided shielding? Surely for audio we want to keep the magnetic field attribute of a transient intact. If shielding acts on the magnetic field this might impact on transients and the sound may come across as a bit lifeless or boring.
(1) ROBERT C. SCULLY A STUDY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS AND LIMITATIONS OF VARIOUS PLATINGS ON CYLINDRICAL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS
https://rc.library.uta.edu/uta-ir/bitstream/handle/10106/24069/Scully_uta_2502D_12395.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
The usual message about skin effect and its impact on high frequencies is that these effects are way above audio frequencies so there is no effect on sound reproduction. But skin effect also occurs as a result of transients (1). Music play back can be full of short fast transients and these transients will push current towards the conductor’s surface.
Frequency skin effect is not a two state phenomenon but increases with frequency. what if transient skin effects are additive to frequency skin effects. If so would music frequency skin effects, under certain conditions, now be noticeable at audio frequencies? Do transients shift the skin effect and frequency curve?
Skin effects might deteriorate sound reproduction for the human ear - high frequency smearing. The effect would be music dependent as some music will be more transient rich compared to other music. And some transients will be larger. This suggests that the sound deterioration will appear inconsistent between users and within user systems.
Can we hear skin effect smearing? And what does it sound like? Is the impact of skin effect more prevalent with tinned or silver plated wire in the circuit? the plating material will have different electrical properties compared to the wire and this would argue for a greater effect. Sourcing the internet - a number of unprompted posts draw attention to the sound signature differences between plated and unplated wire - mainly that silver plated wire sounds bright and hard in the upper frequencies.
There might be other phenomena acting on skin effect. anything that impacts the magnetic field could potentially have an impact on skin effect: microphony? solid or braided shielding? Surely for audio we want to keep the magnetic field attribute of a transient intact. If shielding acts on the magnetic field this might impact on transients and the sound may come across as a bit lifeless or boring.
(1) ROBERT C. SCULLY A STUDY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS AND LIMITATIONS OF VARIOUS PLATINGS ON CYLINDRICAL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS
https://rc.library.uta.edu/uta-ir/bitstream/handle/10106/24069/Scully_uta_2502D_12395.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y