How do you decide if a mod was "right"

[tubee]

Maybe a little awkward thread title here, but i am going in rounds.
First TDA1541 Non-os, then back to original oversampling, tried different opamps in cd player: from NE5532 to OP275, LT1469, AD823, OPA2132, but replaced NE5532, and i am happy again??!! Nice warm and deep bass notes, i like that.

For output cap incdp i tried 10uF MKT, now i have a 7.2uF MKP starter cap. (cheap)
Tried a BG Nx there: sounds crap! Tried those BG Nx near opamps: crap!!. Standard Philips lytics do a good job near the opamps.

Replaced standard MKP audyn coupling cap in tube pre-amp for a Audyn cap plus with double series winding: not good, replaced the standard cap again.

How do you guys here decide if the mod was done right, besides listening tests. Wat gear are you using? Spectrum analysers, distorsion meters or whatever. Just only curious.

[jackinnj]

You apply Bayesian analysis to the problem -- this allows you to skew the statistics to your personal preference.

[tubee]

Hi jackinnj

I didn't look at it that way, interesting vieuw. My taste does the final decision indeed.
What gear do you use besides you ears?

[cliffforrest]

Please describe what gear you think could help you decide

"it sounds better!"

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by tubee
Hi jackinnj

I didn't look at it that way, interesting vieuw. My taste does the final decision indeed.
What gear do you use besides you ears?

Ears are the ultimate arbiter -- there was an interview in the most recent issue of EDN discussing measurement of audio chips -- turns out that you can leave the data sheet at home -- many of the folks making amplifiers want you to show up with a completed design and they will go from there -- the fellow from Audio Precision said that in almost all cases where a difference could be detected by "golden ears" they could pick up some difference with their instrumentation -- i will rely on my ears but have to admit that the range gets more restricted as the decades advance.

[serengetiplains]

Every audible difference must have some manifestation, somewhere, in the physical world. Everything audible is theoretically measureable. Whether the measuring gear is up to task and whether the measurer is looking in the right place remains, in any instance of measuring, an open question. The former might be a hard limit to measurement efficacy.

[janusz]

Good question, tubee. I'd say as long as mods addiction lasts. I would not depend on ears-brain factor only - if one is after the highest fidelity rather than best sound.

The problem with perception based best sound concept is that it varies over time not only due to ageing but due to heaps of factors affecting chemistry of the brain. And each brain is a touch different. So not only drugs alcohol, nicotine and coffee affect our perception but all other moods generated by the environment we live in. And in cities it is also noisy. Golden ears belonging to some young person living in the nature and depending on his hearing for survival could be of great assistance.

On the objective side one can use a number of tools (high frequency/resolution scopes, distortion and other meters etc) but here new technologies bring progress as well so no limit in site.

In my case it is when I get enough of doing something. It is brain dependent.

cheers,

[bordins]

Mod is a matter of your need in a sonic improvement.

Having said that, I think a common method is to compare the sonics against a benchmark. I always visit hi-fi stores or my friends' places to hear their gears. If you find a "right" player or component within your budget, then just buy one !

If you choose not to buy a new one, then you have to mod the one you have to become the one you like. Sometimes the benchmark is composite, the combination of the bests.

Any measurements and theories will help/guide you which mod and how much I should mod it. The final tool is still your mind, not ears. Enough or not enough mod.

[janneman]

Originally posted by jackinnj



Ears are the ultimate arbiter -- there was an interview in the most recent issue of EDN discussing measurement of audio chips -- turns out that you can leave the data sheet at home -- many of the folks making amplifiers want you to show up with a completed design and they will go from there -- the fellow from Audio Precision said that in almost all cases where a difference could be detected by "golden ears" they could pick up some difference with their instrumentation -- i will rely on my ears but have to admit that the range gets more restricted as the decades advance.

Hi Jack,

You have a link to the EDN piece?

Jan Didden

[cpemma]

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6418209.html?ref=nbfe ?

The quality of high-end audio, as many analog designers will tell you and as audiophiles may insist to the point of religious discourse, is excruciatingly hard to quantify even on the characterization bench and almost impossible to verify in a manufacturing-test environment.