I made some tests about THD audibility and i once posted a graph here, i can ear even 0.1% distorsion but only
with a pure sine 1kHz signal and using a pair of high quality studio monitors, precisely the Quested H108
models.
When sending musical signals there s no way to ear any distorsion of that level because the amplitude of the harmonics
for each instrument is way higher than 0.5% , if you look at my previous post we can see that the combined harmonics
have an amplitude as high as the fundamental if not more like in a violin sound.
Your 0.5% threshold is undoubtly for a pure sine as reference, but certainly not for a musical instrument, let alone
a combination of several instruments.
with a pure sine 1kHz signal and using a pair of high quality studio monitors, precisely the Quested H108
models.
When sending musical signals there s no way to ear any distorsion of that level because the amplitude of the harmonics
for each instrument is way higher than 0.5% , if you look at my previous post we can see that the combined harmonics
have an amplitude as high as the fundamental if not more like in a violin sound.
Your 0.5% threshold is undoubtly for a pure sine as reference, but certainly not for a musical instrument, let alone
a combination of several instruments.
@Moderation Team and gurus.
I’m working my way through this thread and find it fascinating and educational. Posts in the early years allude to attachments and threads that are no longer there, broke, etc. Is there any way to recover the missing bits? There are a few posts in particular that I’d love to see the supporting data. Any hints?
Many thanks!
I’m working my way through this thread and find it fascinating and educational. Posts in the early years allude to attachments and threads that are no longer there, broke, etc. Is there any way to recover the missing bits? There are a few posts in particular that I’d love to see the supporting data. Any hints?
Many thanks!
If you could list some links we might recover them if it is possible.
@BSST paging Moderation Team does not alert the team. For that you would normally report your own post.
That would be fantastic! I'm about 2/3 through the thread. I'll finish and try to compile a short list.
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
You're welcome. Right clicking on the post number and copying the link is the preferred way 😉
A synthesizer is a musical instrument and can produce pure sine waves... You should also consider intermodulation products which are not harmonically related.
Pure sine waves are not of much interest when used in isolation for sound synthesis as they lack the harmonic content
that make a sound musical, as a musician myelf i used extensively analog synthesizers and the most used basis are sawtooths
since they comprise both even and odd harmonics, the even harmonics add clarity while the odd ones are the cause
of a sound brightness.
As for IMD products that s another matter, when it comes to music there s score of natural IMD in live recordings,
this IMD is captured by the microphones wich also add their own IMD on top of the one that occur when mixing sounds in open air.
For amplifiers the ones that have the higher levels of THD are invariably also the ones with the higher IMD, so it s quite
possible that such relatively high distorting amps are used as some sound enhancers, in wich case it s no more real HiFi
but rather some cheap Aphex s enhancers in disguise.
that make a sound musical, as a musician myelf i used extensively analog synthesizers and the most used basis are sawtooths
since they comprise both even and odd harmonics, the even harmonics add clarity while the odd ones are the cause
of a sound brightness.
As for IMD products that s another matter, when it comes to music there s score of natural IMD in live recordings,
this IMD is captured by the microphones wich also add their own IMD on top of the one that occur when mixing sounds in open air.
For amplifiers the ones that have the higher levels of THD are invariably also the ones with the higher IMD, so it s quite
possible that such relatively high distorting amps are used as some sound enhancers, in wich case it s no more real HiFi
but rather some cheap Aphex s enhancers in disguise.
Pretty much wahab ...
Some folks hear and appreciate a cleaner, low distortion presentation. They can tell over some time listening, especially against equipment not as clean. Others like a certain effect (or "sound"). That's cool, and as Bob Carver showed, you can get the same sound with a clean amp and effects unit. If the transfer function is the same, you can't tell what is inside the "black box". By transfer function, I am including the characteristics of the output stage as well just to head off that line of argument.
Some folks hear and appreciate a cleaner, low distortion presentation. They can tell over some time listening, especially against equipment not as clean. Others like a certain effect (or "sound"). That's cool, and as Bob Carver showed, you can get the same sound with a clean amp and effects unit. If the transfer function is the same, you can't tell what is inside the "black box". By transfer function, I am including the characteristics of the output stage as well just to head off that line of argument.