John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part III

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It's true I do have some high frequency hearing loss, if I turn the treble up (shock horror) it makes a difference for me to the attack sounds. However, one does not need experience to understand what the effect is.........

What I can't fathom is that if the HF content in a plucked bass string is not in the freq range where hearing loss has occurred, how the attack of a plucked bass string can be perceived differently with/without HF loss?

Sorry if I'm being thick
 
Yes, Mark is talkin' about the release/decay portion of sounds......this is where the initial sound tails and reverb tails descend into the noise floor.
Seemingly minor system changes can make quite profound changes to sounds as they fade into and below the noise floor....these fades/decays are complex and this causes them to be revealing of 'minor' system changes.


Dan.

I questioned whether this is the correct area to search for evidence of the noise floor modulation that we are talking about (the self generated noise within a DAC) - IMO this noise floor mod is probably the result of internal ground disturbance/currents created by gates firing during processing of signal. The greater the number of gates firing at any point in time, the more ground plane disturbance, the more noise floor mod being the result (this is also related to the stability under dynamic load of the power supplying the DAC)

The fades/decays are exactly where the number of gates firing are reduced & the disturbance is lessened, hence noise floor mod should be negligible.

I suspect that the xx3stksm graphs linked to by Mark would show little internal DAC disturbance if playing just the fades of the bass notes he recorded. Indeed my theory is that the difference between the PCM & DSM plots is the result of fewer gates firing in the DSM version but I'm open to being completely wrong

To my thinking - just because we can see, in a measurement, the DAC distortion down at -95Db doesn't mean that this is where it is having a perceptual effect on our auditory system - IMO, this is a measurement that shows the effect in operation but perceptually we are hearing it's effect in other parts of the sound field - my best guess being its effect at the attack & envelope portions of sounds
 
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You guys should be able to hear some difference between the 01 and 02 files in each folder, and if not the certain conclusion is that you have inadequate systems and/or profound deafness and there is no point to proceed further....you can continue to blissfully enjoy your music sub-optimally but you must understand that you are in no position to make declarations about other's systems or other's hearing acuity.

If you do report 01/02 file differences accurately you can progress to determining 01/03 file differences and then onto 02/03 and 02/04 file differences. If you can correctly describe 02/03 and 02/04 file differences you are at high listening skill level and can proceed to 03/04 differences. If you can describe 03/04 file differences accurately you are at master class level. If you can achieve master class level I am happy to discuss the hows and whys of what I am doing, it's up to you armchair experts and critics to stump up and show your real skills and understanding of the art. Dan.


Ah the old 'if you can't hear this you must be deaf'.
 
No I'm not. I thought you might have found one since the discussion was about recording techniques.
Ok Scott, just a slight misunderstanding. :)
I was saying that "upstream components has to minimize issues downstream to make a good system" in contrast to "The upstream components are in this context of little concern since they have reached the point of development where by ear, the good ones have become indistinguishable" on a reproduction system.
 
Sorry Dan, I'm with Jakob, I'm more interested in better than differences, good luck with the business.
"I'm with Jakob, I'm more interested in better than differences".....no comprehendo, do you mean you are content to believe the opinion of others in preference to personal experience ?. What's to stop you taking a listen ?....there is at least one track that you know.

PS You'll be happy to know I have changed the ring tone on my phone to something less suggestive of music, I no longer think it's ringing when it isn't.
Ah, ok I missed your little joke in the first case.... :sorry:

Dan.

Ah the old 'if you can't hear this you must be deaf'.
Yes, and/or your system is not fit for purpose, in your case which is it Bill ?. There are fundamental changes between the 01 and 02 files that 'Blind Freddy' would describe in a flash, this is entry level listening skills, why not give it a try and let the community know what you find. I am most interested to read your appraisal and review of the files on offer, download them and listen later, no pressure.

Dan.
 
do you mean you are content to believe the opinion of others in preference to personal experience ?.
What's to stop you taking a listen ?....there is at least one track that you know.
No, I mean the opposite. My point is I find the discussion about differences a bit pointless when very often a difference is perceived as better when it isn't (although it can be subjectively, at least for a while, do you see what I mean?) I don't know the recording that well, as I said, I bought the CD very recently, it is also a very poor recording when all said and done, although that matters little to me when I find the music so good.
 
No, I mean the opposite. My point is I find the discussion about differences a bit pointless when very often a difference is perceived as better when it isn't (although it can be subjectively, at least for a while, do you see what I mean?)
Ah, you are not appreciating the nature of the differences because you have not experienced them, your preconditioning is ahead of yourself. IMHO the 02 files are indeed improvement over the 01 originals, listen for the difference and you may agree, short term and permanently. The 03/04/06 files are deliberately coloured and may or may not suit your taste, YMMV.
I don't know the recording that well, as I said, I bought the CD very recently, it is also a very poor recording when all said and done, although that matters little to me when I find the music so good.
I have grown to like at least some of the BG music when listening to the treated versions, the original not so much. You might also prefer one of the loopback versions. Dan.
 
Certain effects on auditory perception occur with age such as the ability to follow speech in a background of noise i.e a roomful of people speaking - this has been studied fairly well

I'm not sure the effect on perception of the attack portion of sounds has been studied but remember ITD is the perception of the interaural difference in arrival time of the same sound - doesn't need HF sensitivity & in fact is mostly used below ~700Hz & increasingly so up the frequency range where ILD becomes the dominant factor for locating the source of sound.

Again, the rise time of the attack portion of the sound i snot about HF sensitivity either - a bass note can have a sharp risetime
As far as I'm in concern, I can confirm i have lose a lot of my ability to follow speech in a background of noise.
But, and this is strange, it seems that i can more easily follow an instrument in a mixage.
I have lost all the shiny trebles, but, this is strange, I'm more sensible to any excess of them in a mix. And I'm more interested and sensible to the attacks than when I was young. It is like if a curtain of parasitic noise have been removed.

Personal story: When I had over 50, I was very suspicious about my ability to provide good tonal balance of the instruments in the treeble. Always asking confirmation to youngers in the studio. It seems the contrary occurs.
Let me explain. When I was young, i had a tendency to add extrème treebles to cymbals and acoustic guitars, by example. trying to to add shine. And i was physically aggressed by the noise of the rubbing of the violin bow on the strings.
I was never fully satisfied by the sound of my cymbals, admiring secretly ihe work of some old sound engineers, asking-them, sometimes their "secrets".

Now, i enjoy the sound of violins, I add "body" to the cymbals and it seems it works better even for the youngers.
About localisation, well, i don't feel i have lose anything. At least in the center and sides. More and more sensible to the 'focus' of the center position. If something have decreased, it is may-be my ability to focus with precision between center and sides.
Very curious to read others experiences in this matter.
 
I would want detail of what the difference in process with the files actually is, and a level of confidence that there were no other factors involved.
The comparison is between 01 original 24bit wave files and sets of loopback 24bit recordings. The 02 loopback recordings are using a special cable on its own. The 03/04/06 files are using the same special cable but have extra materials incorporated into the pb/rec system with consequent change in sound of loopback recordings. So, the first test is to discriminate an 01 original recording and the corresponding 02 loopback recording........that should be child's play and it is, go ahead and give it a try, you know you want to. Dan.
.....Very curious to read others experiences in this matter.
Hi T, my experiences pretty much mirror your experiences. Yes, when younger I wanted thumping bass and exciting treble, nowadays I want sense of power and natural clarity, and appreciate sense of space and distance in recordings. I would also say that I am nowadays more sensitive to 'wrongs' in the mix or in the replay system than when younger......this could be product of long aural experience and not tolerating wrongs when the solution is now known. My experimenting is in achieving power, clarity, warmth and body in systems and/or recordings, indeed a 'one size fits all' solution to righting the wrongs of standard audio technology. Dan.
 
As far as I'm in concern, I can confirm i have lose a lot of my ability to follow speech in a background of noise.
But, and this is strange, it seems that i can more easily follow an instrument in a mixage.
I have lost all the shiny trebles, but, this is strange, I'm more sensible to any excess of them in a mix. And I'm more interested and sensible to the attacks than when I was young. It is like if a curtain of parasitic noise have been removed.

Personal story: When I had over 50, I was very suspicious about my ability to provide good tonal balance of the instruments in the treeble. Always asking confirmation to youngers in the studio. It seems the contrary occurs.
Let me explain. When I was young, i had a tendency to add extrème treebles to cymbals and acoustic guitars, by example. trying to to add shine. And i was physically aggressed by the noise of the rubbing of the violin bow on the strings.
I was never fully satisfied by the sound of my cymbals, admiring secretly ihe work of some old sound engineers, asking-them, sometimes their "secrets".

Now, i enjoy the sound of violins, I add "body" to the cymbals and it seems it works better even for the youngers.
About localisation, well, i don't feel i have lose anything. At least in the center and sides. More and more sensible to the 'focus' of the center position. If something have decreased, it is may-be my ability to focus with precision between center and sides.
Very curious to read others experiences in this matter.

Yes, too much is made of age related HF hearing loss. We often see stated here the very misconception that HF hearing sensitivity is needed for perception of all sorts of reported audible improvements.

Too many variables to make any firm statements about differences between auditory perception when I was younger Vs now - differences in quality of replay systems, interest in sound reproduction, experience/exposure to good sound, etc.
 
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I'm sure of this.
On what other effects could be the differences we can feel between several DACS that all measure incredibly well ?

The problem is in identifying what level & what type of disturbances in these areas are audible & how to then measure such disturbance when dynamic music signals are being processed. I'm pretty sure current standard measurements aren't showing differences in these areas in a manner which readily differentiates one DAC from another
 
Dan, are you kidding us? I did a quick check of the Jump files, comparing 2 with 3, there is a dropout at 1:23, followed by a rotated sample sequence until 2:37 where they start to match again (except for another dropout glitch at 3:25).
In the sections that are correct the diff is -70dB down, almost pure noise residual on the R channel whereas the L channel has some gain mismatch so that more of the music peaks through (pretty much undistorted, at that).
 
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