Audio gd Sparrow Blind Test  

I'll sub this thread just to see how long before it's deleted 

 

But you really didn't do much of a test here.

 

One of the things a good powerful amp will do is allow you to turn up the juice and get no clipping or other distortion products.  A sound card won't do that.  I listen loud.  If you listen at low levels, I can see how your tests may pan out like this.  The danger of real good gear is that it doesn't seem loud when it's God Awful loud.

 

Sometimes the only way I know I'm way too loud is to go out to the mailbox, and out on the street, it's too freakin' Loud!!

 

Same deal with Headphones.  IMO at least.

 

Difficult to drive loads just complicate this further.

 

But if you can't hear the difference, definitely don't pay for it!

Just wondering, was any volume matching done? This is typically the hardest thing to do well in these sort of tests. As for 320kbps, i think you could better it. What songs were these? I'll be the first to admit that if the songs are poorly recorded, there isn't going to be much difference between DACs. If the 2 songs you were listening to are modern, compressed dynamic range music, i really wouldn't be surprised by the results :)

The only real result here is that CrazyCarl can't here the difference between the two pieces of gear with two particular songs saved as lossy files. It is impotant to understand that this was a poor test because there were too many variables involved. As well, you can't make sweeping generalizations about everything under the sun when you have tested only a couple of things.



There seem to be quite a few people on Head-fi that believe that because a test involves a DBT that it automatically scientifically valid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Everything from the theory being tested through to the conclusions reached, including caveats and alternate, un-tested possible reasons for the results must be valid.

Now I do think it's good that CrazyCarl is interested in testing what improvement the gear he bought is making on his listening enjoyment, but he will be doing himself and everyone a disservice if he doesn't understand these things well.

first of all - DBT is a SUBJECTIVE, not an OBJECTIVE test

my guess is that Carl is simply physically unable to hear the difference.

 

it's not a bad thing (even contrary. if every piece of audio equipment sounds similar to him, he's a really happy man. i mean he's got natural immunity to audiophilia and he doesn't have a single reason to spend a fortune on audiogear)

 

BUT, considering this - the test he conducted was actually a hearing test, not an adio-gear test

 

so the results, imho, can only be applied to Carl himself, not the equipment he tested

To make this test more applicable, it needs to be applied to like 50 headfi members. Then we will see real trends. 

 

Personally I think the results are very realistic. I personally cannot distinguish midfi gear, particularly for amps and sources, much. I have to listen for the differences and I need to do it side by side. Otherwise I can't really tell. I can identify headphones easier but when we talk amp and source I cannot distuingish much at all.. 

 

This is why I'm quite happy using mp3s over FLACs, and can live without amps when it comes to easy to drive cans and IEMs.

Edited by Mochan - 6/5/10 at 2:34am

 

No, it's an objective test (with the objective to eliminate subjective bias as a variable) but it only tests the things it tests and nothing else. 

 

Speaking of tests, there's now a Chesky headphone test album, specially made for Head-fi.  I have noticed that some music is more or less good for discerning differences between components, and quite a bit of music I have benefits less from my expensive rig than I'd like, leading me to hunt for good remasters.

This entire hi-fi thing is pretty subjective. If you can't hear the difference, stop spending $$ on it cuz it's not adding any value for you. I don't think it is a bad thing. I heard a lot difference between my uDac and my T400 on board sound card (not sure what SC it is...doesn't matter). When my Sparrow arrives, I'll see if I can hear the difference between them.

 

I'd say the test itself is objective, but the result is subjective cuz some may be able to hear the difference and some may not. 

 

This is just my 2cent

I agree with you miyinan.  I know in my case I intended to do what I did (though I've gone further than I planned, though most of my gear can go straight into a speaker rig with just the addition of a power amp and speakers), but that doesn't at all mean someone should go that far, just get what gear gives them the enjoyment they seek. 

I've argued this point for far too long in the Sound Science forum and some yet still don't see it.

Tests can be poorly designed, I don't see how anyone would argue against that.

Maybe if they religiously believe in the DBT?