Learning more about the science of sound

While it's not at all about headphones, Floyd E. Toole's big book "Sound Reproduction" is a great start.

Siegfried Linkwitz at the Linkwitz Lab has countless pages and links scatter about his web-page,  much of it directed at 2 channel phantom imaging.

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/index.html

I think Ethan Winer's book can be a good place to start. The topics covered in there are pretty comprehensive.

We should add  the "j.j. Johnston" pages to the list.  Most of them are PowerPoints which are a pain to read, but struggle through them.

http://home.comcast.net/~retired_old_jj/

http://audioskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-we-hear-what-we-hear-part-1.html

http://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/ppt.htm
 

I know you asked for reading material, but I found these lectures to be quite entertaining:

Ethan Winer on Audio Myths:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ

Thomas Lund on the Loudness War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhA7Vy3OPbc

Edit: And this guys is engaging too...

Bob Katz on Loudness war Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCd6MHlo_iA

 Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FVF9vRLyVc

Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook, by John Borwick

Quote:

Originally Posted by proton007 

I think Ethan Winer's book can be a good place to start. The topics covered in there are pretty comprehensive.

Thanks for the plug. Here's a direct link:

The Audio Expert

My AES Audio Myths video linked above is a good introduction too.

--Ethan

Wow, very cool to know we have the write of one of these books on these forums!

Whoa. That was cool. Thanks for popping in, Ethan. You are a thoroughly engaging dude.     

Dear Mr Winer,

I am a big fan of your writing and your critiques especially on audio snake oil! I was curious what the fundamental determinant of SQ in the a portable gear set up is.

I understand that a good amp and good pair of IEMs (I am taking the quality of the recordings in lossless format as a given and I understand that correct EQing can make a big difference in your sonic experience) are important and that expensive cables are utter B.S.

But then, I am always slightly careful when I see portable players that are in excess of 1000 dollars and the hype surround some of these exorbitantly priced players. What differentiates say a Sansa Clip + and an Altmann Terra Player that audiophiles claim that there is such a huge chasm in the SQ difference (or can most of this be attributed to perception bias and so on)? I understand that portable players are essentially DACs + amps. Where the DACs have a simple function and the best ones are available in bulk at low prices. So does this mean that the sound quality of a portable player is mainly dependent upon the built-in amp (given the DAC is decent enough quality) or is there another important factor that determines how great a portable player is?

I would be extremely grateful for your feedback. Thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadFiend 

I don't think you can correlate what people hear with science...

You're decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio of this thread, but please explain why you think that way. I think all people here are interested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnor 

You're decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio of this thread, but please explain why you think that way. I think all people here are interested.

Loving the wit!