I've just given two sets of a files a listen... hmm.... this is going to be interesting 🙂
Great test and it kind of puts a lot of things in perspective imo.
Great test and it kind of puts a lot of things in perspective imo.
Thanks Mooly. Yes it puts things in perspective. How bad does a re-recording sound? How bad do a couple of very bad interconnects sound compared to simple copper wire?
I wonder if marsh samphire (aka glasswort, genus salicornia) might make a better wire than some vegetable materials - its very salty and thin, grows in coastal salt marshes...
Any more results? Anyone still want to weigh in?
What did you hear?
Feel free to post your impressions of the test here, just don't give away the actual file numbers that you are talking about, that would bias other people.
What did you hear?
Feel free to post your impressions of the test here, just don't give away the actual file numbers that you are talking about, that would bias other people.
Thanks for the effort. I have PMed you few results. Hope others too join in. May be let it run for few more days ?
regds.
regds.
Yes, I will let it run. You have your results now via PM. Or maybe I will reveal the results only to those who respond, what do you think?
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Very close, about 68 meters apart. Closest copper mine is about 78 Km, so maybe 🙂
May be not on early stage but probably few weeks later keeping names anonymous would be judicious thing to do. Also will be good to know how many/out of total predicted correctly. I wish more people take the test.
Though I failed the test, I personally am ok if members wants their names to be revealed/not to be revealed too. It is good to know self limitations.
regds.
Thanks for the replies and listening time. I will keep this going for a long time and not publish the key here. If you message me with your results, I will message back with the key to the files you reported. You can post your results here, or remain anonymous.
If you do wish to discuss your results in public, just name the materiel, not the key number. For Example:
That will be fun for people to read.
If you do wish to discuss your results in public, just name the materiel, not the key number. For Example:
- Banana was "best"
- Wire was decent
- Mud was strange
- Original lacked depth.
That will be fun for people to read.
Here goes then 😱
I listened to the America and Rebecca Pidgeon clips and found that for the America clip the banana really was the best 🙂 Mud I thought was 'good' and the original file the least open sounding of the four. The wire I felt was better than the original but overall banana was tops.
For the Rebecca Pidgeon I again thought banana was best of the four. The worst was the original... is there a trend here 😉 Wire and mud were similar sounding and difficult to tell apart.
All listening done through the 'Mooly Lateral FET Amp' and at modest level into B&W 703's
I listened to the America and Rebecca Pidgeon clips and found that for the America clip the banana really was the best 🙂 Mud I thought was 'good' and the original file the least open sounding of the four. The wire I felt was better than the original but overall banana was tops.
For the Rebecca Pidgeon I again thought banana was best of the four. The worst was the original... is there a trend here 😉 Wire and mud were similar sounding and difficult to tell apart.
All listening done through the 'Mooly Lateral FET Amp' and at modest level into B&W 703's
The amazing thing is how much alike these files sound. The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't. All of the re-recordings should be obvious, but they aren't.
So far only one person has consistently chosen the original files, and that only by a slim margin (he liked banana, too.) This person has a very, very high resolution system that is tuned to his taste for hi-res and fine detail, so we might expect that he can hear the differences, even if small.
So far only one person has consistently chosen the original files, and that only by a slim margin (he liked banana, too.) This person has a very, very high resolution system that is tuned to his taste for hi-res and fine detail, so we might expect that he can hear the differences, even if small.
More results coming in! Astute listeners are finding differences. Go check out the files and tell us what you hear. 🙉🎧👂
You might well wonder whatever gave me the nutty idea to run an audio signal through mud, bananas and other strange conductors. You can blame John Sayles. Yes, the movie director. About 12 years ago I was watching his film Amigo, about the US Army in the Philippines. In one scene they are stringing telegraph wires on poles. Or should I say "a wire" singular. Just one wire, no return circuit, no loop. "Well", I thought, "How's that going to work? You need two wires to complete the circuit, duh." How wrong I was! With some research I learned that the telegraph sent its signal through a single wire, using the Earth as the return - even over many miles. The telegraph circuit was truly grounded. Signals through the dirt.
That got me thinking "Never mind telegraphy, what would an audio signal sent through dirt sound like?" So I sent audio through the back yard and then through a bucket of mud, and it worked. That led me to send audio signals through all sorts of strange conductors like mud, potato, banana, beer, wine, salt water, Coca-Cola, steel wool, a coat hanger and a few others that I don't remember. Most of these are pretty poor conductors, but what did they sound like? If you take the test, you might find out. 🙂
You might well wonder whatever gave me the nutty idea to run an audio signal through mud, bananas and other strange conductors. You can blame John Sayles. Yes, the movie director. About 12 years ago I was watching his film Amigo, about the US Army in the Philippines. In one scene they are stringing telegraph wires on poles. Or should I say "a wire" singular. Just one wire, no return circuit, no loop. "Well", I thought, "How's that going to work? You need two wires to complete the circuit, duh." How wrong I was! With some research I learned that the telegraph sent its signal through a single wire, using the Earth as the return - even over many miles. The telegraph circuit was truly grounded. Signals through the dirt.
That got me thinking "Never mind telegraphy, what would an audio signal sent through dirt sound like?" So I sent audio through the back yard and then through a bucket of mud, and it worked. That led me to send audio signals through all sorts of strange conductors like mud, potato, banana, beer, wine, salt water, Coca-Cola, steel wool, a coat hanger and a few others that I don't remember. Most of these are pretty poor conductors, but what did they sound like? If you take the test, you might find out. 🙂
Uff.... what an great idea for an blind test lol
Tho i would have liked a comparison with a piece of silver in the chain too 😀
let me power up speakers and try to figure it out, results come by PM 🙂 atleast im somewhat certain the original and copper wire can be identified
EDIT: results are out 🙂
for what these test were the audible difference was fairly small tho i think i noticed higher noisefloor and a more gritty sound with 2 of the samples, which i suspect to be mud and banana, lets see, i may be completely wrong 😀
Tho i would have liked a comparison with a piece of silver in the chain too 😀
let me power up speakers and try to figure it out, results come by PM 🙂 atleast im somewhat certain the original and copper wire can be identified
EDIT: results are out 🙂
for what these test were the audible difference was fairly small tho i think i noticed higher noisefloor and a more gritty sound with 2 of the samples, which i suspect to be mud and banana, lets see, i may be completely wrong 😀
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Big thanks to Pano for this very interesting test. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lets spread the word, the more the merrier 🙂