John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part III

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Nothing, or better say zero result. That's why the audiophiles hate DBT tests and permanently find excuses about the method or software like Foobar ABX. The unsuccessful result would be blamed on everything but hearing limits or psychoacoustics.
Yes, I've been observing that over the years. It's apparently impossible for those audiophiles who are not in audio business to acknowledge this. As for those who are in audio business, the reason for denial is obvious.
 
BTW, it would be of highest value to measure acoustical output from the speaker or headphones, to speculate what we hear.

This is what we get from quite good headphones from the test impulse. So we should be very careful when speaking about what we "hear". Top trace el. signal, bottom trace headphones+mike output.

P.S.: Frequency response of the headphone channel just added - it is not that bad. But time response is and this is the message to those who like to argue and debate about time response of the amplifiers - funny.
 

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Well, I hope you are happy with your $99 CD player. I can't tolerate even those that cost 10 times as much, but then I listen with my ears, and don't like double blind tests BECAUSE they tend to make everything sound the same at the test moment, but differences still are apparent over time. . I still believe, after 40 years of trying, that ABX cripples the decision making process, and I stand by my opinion. At this time, I do not design digital players, so I can't blame my opinion on my own design preferences, when it comes to digital. I just try things, and decide for myself.
 
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Do a level matched double blind listening against your best one and see what you get.

We have done that multiple times here, comparing between highly rated dacs such as Auralic Vega and Benchmark DAC-3. Easy to hear the difference blind at low-ish matched levels. It is a matter of learning what to listen for, something some people have no interest in learning how to do.

EDIT: Please don't mistake my one one-time response as an indicating I am willing to play debating games with you, I'm not.
 
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Well, I hope you are happy with your $99 CD player. I can't tolerate even those that cost 10 times as much, but then I listen with my ears, and don't like double blind tests BECAUSE they tend to make everything sound the same at the test moment, but differences still are apparent over time. . I still believe, after 40 years of trying, that ABX cripples the decision making process, and I stand by my opinion. At this time, I do not design digital players, so I can't blame my opinion on my own design preferences, when it comes to digital. I just try things, and decide for myself.
Sorry, you're lack of toleration is nowhere near the level of this guy...
it might be not so often used, but some people are quite sensitive if only panning is used in a recording. Iirc for example jj was on the record that he barely is able to listen to records using only pan pots for positioning of virtual sound sources.
I don't know who to pity most :rolleyes:
 
Ever hear of Dolby Atmos?
i don't confuse scientific research on localisation of human ears with the successive commercial holdups on the movies industry succeeded by the Dolby company. Multiplying loudspeakers and tracks is nothing innovative. Imposing their standards by all the possible pressures is nothing else than an hostage taken. Just dirty business. Just like was Sensurround by Universal Studios, or THX by Georges Lucas ...
On my point of view it will disappear in the forgetfulness of history as fast as the previous others.
Talking about snake oil or fashion ?

That's why the audiophiles hate DBT tests and permanently find excuses about the method or software like Foobar ABX.
No, PMA, no, no and NO.
It is not for this reason. And i don't agree both with your contemptuous use of the word "audiophile", and the trial of intent.

I don't care to know what brand is the one playing at an instant. In fact I don't care to know-it or not, I am not snobbish or having preconceptions in matter of audio.
But I NEED to know if it is the A, or the B that is playing. Jut to can correlate my successive listening impressions. About ABX, it just adding a level of obfustration and fatigue, that does not help when you are about trying to discriminate little details.
And, because each surprize is a shock that divert attention , I need to be the master of the moment i want the switch to be made as well as the musical source.

Anyway, all this endless controversy is boring. Is there is not obvious differences between two gears or sources, why spending so many time and efforts: It means it does not matter much. Obvious, not ?

And not forget, as J.C said that long time listening (several days), specially with not focused attention can reveal things that you do not notice when too much focused at un instant.
And I agree too with what Markw4 answered.

Everybody is free to find the ways that works better for himself, we are not all the same.
Let this bu*.s.it controversy to oddharmonic's boring parrots messages in loop. You are better than that.
 
No, PMA, no, no and NO.
It is not for this reason. And i don't agree both with your use of this contemptuous use of the word "audiophile", and the trial of intent.

I don't care to know what brand is the one playing at an instant. In fact I don't care to know-it or not, I am not snobbish or having preconceptions in matter of audio.
But I NEED to know if it is the A, or the B that is playing. Jut to can correlate my successive listening impressions. About ABX, it just adding a level of obfustration and fatigue, that does not help when you are about trying to discriminate little details.
And, because each surprize is a shock that divert attention , I need to be the master of the moment i want the switch to be made as well as the musical source.

Anyway, all this endless controversy is boring. Is there is not obviuos differences between two gears or sources, why spending so many time and efforts: It means it does not matter much. Obvious, not ?

And not forget, as J.C said that long time listening (several days), specially with not focused attention can reveal things that you do not notice when too much focused at un instant.

.

Well said Tryphon!......I think? lol
 
Well, I hope you are happy with your $99 CD player. I can't tolerate even those that cost 10 times as much, but then I listen with my ears,
Plus some sprinkles of peeking, right?
and don't like double blind tests BECAUSE they tend to make everything sound the same at the test moment, but differences still are apparent over time. . I still believe, after 40 years of trying, that ABX cripples the decision making process, and I stand by my opinion. At this time, I do not design digital players, so I can't blame my opinion on my own design preferences, when it comes to digital. I just try things, and decide for myself.
You say all that because you are in audio business. I know.

We have done that multiple times here, comparing between highly rated dacs such as Auralic Vega and Benchmark DAC-3. Easy to hear the difference blind at low-ish matched levels. It is a matter of learning what to listen for, something some people have no interest in learning how to do.
You have not done level matched double blind listening test. What you claimed to have done is a pseudo level matched test.

No, PMA, no, no and NO.
It is not for this reason. And i don't agree both with your contemptuous use of the word "audiophile", and the trial of intent.

I don't care to know what brand is the one playing at an instant. In fact I don't care to know-it or not, I am not snobbish or having preconceptions in matter of audio.
But I NEED to know if it is the A, or the B that is playing. Jut to can correlate my successive listening impressions. About ABX, it just adding a level of obfustration and fatigue, that does not help when you are about trying to discriminate little details.
And, because each surprize is a shock that divert attention , I need to be the master of the moment i want the switch to be made as well as the musical source.

Anyway, all this endless controversy is boring. Is there is not obvious differences between two gears or sources, why spending so many time and efforts: It means it does not matter much. Obvious, not ?

And not forget, as J.C said that long time listening (several days), specially with not focused attention can reveal things that you do not notice when too much focused at un instant.
Several days... that's got to be fatiguing. How these listeners can tolerate such stress during subjective listening sessions but not during double blind listening session is puzzling. :scratch:
 
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Blind test would mean to make at least 2 files and compare in ABX. I can prepare it later to a special thread. This is rather for anyone interested to try. Also anyone with e.g. Audacity and some small skills can see what is in the file.

I was searching the internet to find a minimum detectable ITD for impulse signals, but did not have much success. That's why I asked @Jakob2.
I used some ITD here, which I am not disclosing yet. I also tried to find my reliable threshold. Not in this test file here.

Yes, it was clear what you were trying to test, and a worthwhile test too. My point is that the inversion was easily apparent if, say, media player is your default for wav and shows the waveform... And you could easily look at the files in more detail. So, the replies are tainted by whether you can assume people have not noticed or have not looked. Trust is a tricky thing! :)
 
I'm not sure who told you that DBT has to be done within given timeline. As mentioned by late Peter Aczel in The Ten Biggest Lies in Audio #4, take as much time as you wish.

Ok....you wanna dance? :D

Why does one need to not know what he’s hearing to make a decision? Subjectivity can certainly be objective if you train your brain to act impartially......I could give two turds less what it is, if it sounds better to me than better it is!

Cost,pedigree,awesome reviews mean absolutely nothing to me......for example I’m boxing up a Hint right now because my lowly Yamaha sounds better! Now I’m hoping it’s fixable as I really hear the potential it has....but if it comes back from repair still blah and untimely then down the road it goes.

I don’t understand why all this blind testing is even a ‘thing’ ....let your ears and your brain guide your own opinion......if that’s not too foreign a concept? :)

Bob
 
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More observers would be appreciated.
To fulfill your request, I made an other listening (one time) with headphones.
This time, apart the difference of tonaly, I was able to "feel" a little difference in spatial position. The lowest tone sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right. But it falls into my category "If it's not an illusion, it does not matter enough to worry.". Only very little angle, if any.

I would have liked longest signals. If I have some time, I will edit them.
Was-it a test to evaluate our thresholds of phase localisation ?
 
About verticality, I believe that this could be very "Cultural". It is psycho acoustic. We can imagine that animals having to fight against predators situated at height develop a better capacity of localization in the vertical plane ?

We can hear spaciousness because of reflections/echoes. The direct sound together with the reflections get into our ears and with experience our brain knows the relative position of the direct sound sources and the reflective surroundings. So the vertical information can be in the recording depends on how it is captured. Imo, the best way to capture 3D is by using single microphone, then in reproduction the speaker/room must be free from reflections. But this is a rare case. Recording people seem to prefer closed mic for each instrument. Of course, the 3D information (from surrounding reflections) is not there. It has to be added during mixing. This 3D engineering plus speaker/room reflection creates its own 3D imaginations.
 
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