mswlogo;541844 Wrote: > Wow lot posts since I last checked this thread. > > Folks I'm well aware of Practice vs Theory. > > The point of the test is to check *ROUGHLY* what your limit is. > > I was actually surprised I could easily hear 18bits or more from sweet > spot (GRANTED at full analog volume). > > Also keep in mind when you use digital attenuation your shifting EVERY > bit down into a worse performing range. So in "Practice" it's actually > worse than this very simple signal. > > Sorry on the mix up on 440Hz vs 3.5K. I had two sets and mixed the > first two up. It's not that big a deal because I expect most will get > past the first two test files and the rest are consistent labeled > correctly. > > When I did my testing I bypassed my digital Preamp for those > questioning what Meridian is doing. I tested with Meridian DSP speakers > that don't upsample. It's basically a DAC/Preamp/Amp/Speaker all in one > box. > > I've convinced a bunch of Meridian owners to reconfigure their preamp > to basically run full scale and not let the processor attenuate even > 1/2 a bit (3dB). 21 folks say it sounds better 0 say it has no change. > This was effectively removing roughly 3-6dB of digital attenuation. > > Then I dug into why this is so and why 24bit doesn't avoid problems > with digital attenuation. > > Will you hear the difference attenuating Lady Gaga digitally, probably > not. > > Digital Attenuation is BAD BAD BAD BAD even just a little is BAD. > > This test is only part of it. It was mainly to show you can't hear > 24bits from your DAC even in UNREASLISTIC extreme cases but you can > easily hear over 16bits. > > They say human hearing has 120dB dynamic range (20-bits). > > Another test I may do is take a nice delicate classical piece of music > and stuff noise in bits 17-24, then 18-24, then 19-24, etc. I'll bet > you can easily hear the noise even at normal levels past 16bits. This > will be a more realistic test (still not perfect though). > > I used Audacity to generate the test files. But I would like to make a > cleaner set they are a little rough but they got the job done.
Your last test has already been done, as I posted earlier. The fact is that people cant hear a brass marching band stuffed into the bottom bits of a 16-bit file playing Brahms Lullaby! Ironically, if they could, reducing the volume would eventually lose the Brass Band but leave the Brahms... You are also missing the point about human hearing vs what systems can actually do in terms of dynamic range. There are very few hi-fi systems that can generate 120dB of clean sound. Even so, the human ear cannot actually hear 0dB and 120dB AT THE SAME TIME (especially if the ambient noise level is at a realistic 50dB). Yes the loudest sound we can comfortably tolerate for a short while may be 120 and the quietest we can hear might be 0 - but the brain doesn't work like a microphone! It has to make choices. -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/XP) - TACT 2.2X (Linear PSU) + Good Vibrations S/W - MF Triplethreat(Audiocom full mods) - Linn 5103 - Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Townsend Supertweeters, Blue Jeans Digital,Kimber Speaker & Chord Interconnect cables Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=77725 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
