Great discussion guys... I agree with Mnyb around the topic of measurements. Diffmaker comparisons which null out pretty much tells us if there's any difference at all. As for the idea of needing more and fancy tests, well, of course there could be things to try... For example, on my blog there's a suggestion to try 2fs (ie. 96kHz) jitter tests as opposed to the standard 24-bit/48kHz one I'm using currently.
Hey, I'm sure that will show significant differences between DACs at 24kHz! Maybe a dog/cat can appreciate jitter up at that frequency... The poster suggests that this makes an audible difference with 24/96 music. I already have the test signal to do this but have not tried yet so will withhold judgment. Ultimately, it boils down to audiophiles (and the press) accepting that if we're really going to get anywhere, double blind listening tests are essential. Yet no magazine does this. If anything, audiophiles look for every possible angle to "debunk" or "invalidate" testing which is acceptable to every other scientific discipline I know of that deals with human perception or biological effect. Show me double blind test results where listeners are able to discern differences between DACs, cables, etc... AND where standard measurements cannot explain these differences. Then we can at least consider what other tests need to be devised because then we can say with some certainty that "we're missing something". --- Ralph: I think you're right about the assessment on JA. While I appreciate his work on objective measurements, there is at times a clear bias as to how he interprets the results. Mediocre results from an inexpensive / not well regarded brand will get used to explain inadequacies. Mediocre results of expensive / well regarded brand / well advertised products often gets tossed aside as "I can't explain why Mr. Subjective loved the sound... Perhaps it's exactly because it measures like this!" (For an example, have a look at his conclusion of Audio Note's CD-4.1x CD player - awful noise floor, waveform reproduction, even terrible jitter.) JA is a businessman after all... Yes, always worth reading these rags with this fact in mind. Archimago's Musings: (archimago.blogspot.com) A 'more objective' audiophile blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=101003 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
