JohnSwenson;497768 Wrote: > As I've stated before I can hear the difference over headphones on the > Touch. I've done simple blind tests and can tell the difference. I'd be > willing to participate in an "official" blind test of this, so do you > have a testing protocol that you would consider "proper"? > > I don't want to spend time on this and then have a whole bunch of > people say "it wasn't proper", so what IS proper? Proper blind tests require that neither the listener nor the tester knows which is being played, and that levels are perfectly matched.
In the case of FLAC v. WAV, level matching is a given, so the only thing that remains is to ensure nobody involved knows what is being listened to. If we can arrange for a computer to be the tester it makes the logistics much simpler: 1. Select a file that exhibits the difference you hear. 2. Make two copies: one WAV, the other FLAC. 3. Listen to them both, as often as you like, in order to acclimatise yourself to their differences. 4. Get SqueezeCenter to build a random playlist from the two files. 5. Listen to the playlist and note down what you think each one is. Make sure the Squeezebox's display is set such that it does not reveal the file type. To be statistically meaningful you'll need to audition about 20 instances. 6. Now compare your results with the actual playlist. I've never bothered to conduct such a test myself, because I don't believe there will be an audible difference and therefore my own expectation will almost certainly force me into not hearing one (even if there is). But you are in the other camp - you do hear a difference, and a blind test enables you to gather the evidence to demonstrate whether it is down to your expectations. -- cliveb Transporter -> ATC SCM100A ------------------------------------------------------------------------ cliveb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=348 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=71321 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
