utgg wrote: > I'm coming late to all these discussions, so forgive me if I'm covering > old ground here. > > As an engineer that has worked for many years in all sorts of fields > involved in signal processing, I've found the difficulties with > wide-band high resolution systems are mostly to do with non-linearities. > I suspect that if people can actually hear a difference between wide > bandwidth input vs. the same thing low-pass filtered - that we know > shouldn't be audible - this is probably a non-linearity defect in either > the reproduction equipment or receiving apparatus (i.e. the ears). Most > likely the ears. > > In other words, those that think they've got 'golden ears' because they > can hear a difference maybe shouldn't be too proud - it could well be > because their ears are unusually non-linear, i.e. defective. > > It could, of course, be a non-linear defect in the (expensive) > wide-bandwidth amplifier/speaker/listening environment combination being > revealed with this new-fangled high-sample rate source material. That > might be equally problematic....
The literature related to doing this kind of listening test contains many examples of attention and inattention to the potential for nonlinear distortion (e.g. IM) in the monitoring system to cause false positives. This pair of sample-rate-testing files contain the results of several generations of trying to build a listening test that is self-diagnostic for this problem: 'Link to files for studying the audible effects of downsampling that are also self-diagnostic for IM' (http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=107570&view=findpost&p=894877) The way this works is that the primary test is the classic "Keys Jangling" sound originally recorded at 24/96 and then downsampled to 44/16 and upsampled back to 24/96. Following the keys jangling sound is a brief low level marker tone followed by ultrasonic test tones designed to elicit audible IM if there is excess nonlinear distortion in the monitoring chain. The intent is that an ABX file comparison tool such as Foobar2K with its ABX plug-in (all freeware) are used to control the test. In the basic test (keys jangling, before the audible test tone) the intent is that you either hear or do not hear a difference. That's the primary test. Following the low level test tone is the secondary qualification test for your monitoring chain. If you hear any difference between the files in this test segment, then your monitoring chain has audible IM and any positive results from the primary test are probably the results of that. IOW, false positives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ arnyk's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=64365 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103537 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
