So far we seem to have as many posts on nurture as on nature. The nurture bit is fine - it just defines whether you are able to make the best of what you are born with. The New Scientist article on smell/taste was concerned principally with the nature aspect which defines or restricts the abilities we can achieve even with the best nurture. The sports gene is another good example of this. What interests me is whether there are any genes that determine the extent of our hearing abilities and whether there may be a 'golden ears' gene. Could be an interesting area of research. There's a good chance of a Phd or two and a few grants in this. Perhaps it is something the AES might be interested in. Could be an interesting adjunct to psychoacoustical studies.
Cheers
Ian
Cheers
Ian
Had the same dilemma once. Germiston divorce court helped me sort it out without any lasting hearing damage. Took a souvenir too.
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I will put it like this
many people will easily detect if a 3way speaker has a problem
and many think they can hear which driver causes it
which is where it goes wrong
most cannot hear which driver
only hard earned experience will do it here
and in the end probably also help from advanced technology
then you might say ... if almost anyone can do it by using this modern technology, are golden ears good for anything at all
well ... I don't know
many people will easily detect if a 3way speaker has a problem
and many think they can hear which driver causes it
which is where it goes wrong
most cannot hear which driver
only hard earned experience will do it here
and in the end probably also help from advanced technology
then you might say ... if almost anyone can do it by using this modern technology, are golden ears good for anything at all
well ... I don't know
I dont think i have audiophile hearing, but...
Im able to ear even 20kHz with ease... im only 19 and i ever listen music loudly or work with powertools with no ear protection...
Most speakers Ive listened to have always too sharp highs, I never trust those crossover calculators anymore, i tune mostly them by ear till i start liking the sound...
Most people love the sound of the speakers I have built so far, they say the sound is super smooth and sweet to listen to, doesnt cause fatigue tho.
Normally what people do wrong is that they turn the freakin volume till they hear all fq clearly? Most speakers cause headache and fatigue to me.
I also see better than anyone I know.
But finding silent driver from 3-way speaker, easy.
I wish i could test myself.
Im able to ear even 20kHz with ease... im only 19 and i ever listen music loudly or work with powertools with no ear protection...
Most speakers Ive listened to have always too sharp highs, I never trust those crossover calculators anymore, i tune mostly them by ear till i start liking the sound...
Most people love the sound of the speakers I have built so far, they say the sound is super smooth and sweet to listen to, doesnt cause fatigue tho.
Normally what people do wrong is that they turn the freakin volume till they hear all fq clearly? Most speakers cause headache and fatigue to me.
I also see better than anyone I know.
But finding silent driver from 3-way speaker, easy.
I wish i could test myself.
I would be happy to entertain the idea that ability to discern defects in the medium is inversely proportional to comprehension of the music. Whether or not that's genetic, I couldn't say, but I think musical literacy is acquired young. A person who listens to the music itself will find it hard to reliably identify 0.1% distortion or a slight suckout between drivers, or whatever qualifies one for Golden Ears status.
And 'Golden Ears' may mean different things to different people. Some people are perfectly happy with speakers that roll off at 80Hz even though in objective terms that's a massive alteration of the intended sound. Or I have an audiophile friend who is extremely sensitive to differences between amplifiers but who is deaf to the effects of dynamic compression.
A Golden Ears can tell me until they're blue in the face about the greatness of some certain small speakers (e.g. KEF LS50?) demonstrated with jazz and girl-and-guitar, but my version of a great audio system is one that has some 'whoomph'. In other words they don't seem to be seeing the woods for the trees.
And 'Golden Ears' may mean different things to different people. Some people are perfectly happy with speakers that roll off at 80Hz even though in objective terms that's a massive alteration of the intended sound. Or I have an audiophile friend who is extremely sensitive to differences between amplifiers but who is deaf to the effects of dynamic compression.
A Golden Ears can tell me until they're blue in the face about the greatness of some certain small speakers (e.g. KEF LS50?) demonstrated with jazz and girl-and-guitar, but my version of a great audio system is one that has some 'whoomph'. In other words they don't seem to be seeing the woods for the trees.
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You, i would guess, have not had your 10,000 hrs of serious listening training.
dave
There is a major difference between having a extremely good hearing ability and the merit of a classification as "Golden Ears".
As a young man I had extremely good hearing abilities, but I was then at the time for sure no "Golden Ears".
I had finished my first class A power amplifier of my own design and both measurements and listening tests was telling it was very good and there was no known issues. I then delivered it to one of the merited "Golden Ears" of the eighties for evaluation. One week later I got the amplifier back and was told that it was sounding nearly perfect, but there was something from 200Hz and down that was not quite right..
At first I was disappointed - both due to I myself had not heard or measured this issue, but after checking and calculating the schematic I found the issue to be the decoupling of the constant current source for the differential input stage. The decoupling capacitor value was then increased 1000 times in value so it was effective down to 0.2Hz. Neither the measurement equipment I had at the time or my 16Hz transmission line speakers or my hearing abilities had revealed this issue.
My listening training up to this point of time had been 99.9% on amplified (Hi-Fi and concert) sources and was a limiting factor. In the coming years I was traveling a lot and used all opportunities to attend acoustic concerts and performances in the famous concert halls around. I then of course discovered that one instrument or one voice not only sounded different from concert hall to concert hall or from listening position to listening position, but it was a lot of other variables that mattered..
So after the mod, the amplifier was effectively perfect as certified by an official Golden Ears. The obvious question that springs to my mind is: did you therefore give up on designing more amplifiers, as you had officially achieved perfection, or did you carry on? If so, thirty years later, do you now have amplifiers that are much better than perfection? Or just as perfect but much smaller, more efficient, cheaper, to the extent that it justifies thirty years of development effort that could have been directed elsewhere?
(I'm always curious about people's motivations in this business. My own attitude is that if I design something that works perfectly, or can buy it, I direct my attention elsewhere.)
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The amplifier design in question was at the time supposed to be manufactured and sold..
However the investors engaged an industry design company for the mechanical design including tools for extruding heatsinks etc..
And it become an never ending story of meetings and revisions of the mechanical design - during that time I left the audio industry and started a 20+ years carrier in the computer industry as I could not survive financially in the audio industry - and lost interest..
However I continued with audio as a hobby and the amplifiers I use today have improved during the years. As I design and build everything I use myself there are always a new prototype or a new product in works.. Everything from the mains inlet to and including the speakers (and drivers (dynamic and AMT)) I have designed and built.
However the investors engaged an industry design company for the mechanical design including tools for extruding heatsinks etc..
And it become an never ending story of meetings and revisions of the mechanical design - during that time I left the audio industry and started a 20+ years carrier in the computer industry as I could not survive financially in the audio industry - and lost interest..
However I continued with audio as a hobby and the amplifiers I use today have improved during the years. As I design and build everything I use myself there are always a new prototype or a new product in works.. Everything from the mains inlet to and including the speakers (and drivers (dynamic and AMT)) I have designed and built.
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