[bigshot]

  Practical question here.
When doing such a comparison, how should volume be normalized, if at all?

 
I would knock the whole track down a little more than the correction you are planning to do. That way it won't clip, and you'll be able to try ten dB up and ten down.

 

[castleofargh]

one simply can't seem to be able to thrive on doubt. I feel like being right has nothing to do with happiness, it's thinking we are right that matters, so that we can remove those annoying doubts that put shadows on our everyday happiness. "no diggity, no doubt".
 
 
 
 
statistical results from DBT and ABX are used to decide if a drug is killing or helping people? well sure statistics are good enough for unimportant life and death questions, but they're not enough for amateur music listener. why? because they didn't say I was right last time.
physical measurements are good enough when it comes to build a plane, send a ship into space, or built a 50stories building with 90% sand. but they can't explain sound pressure on a tympanic membrane. why? because measurements said that my favorite headphone had distortions. I can't live with that, better reject science entirely.
 
-some rely on logic and the idea that an engineer might know a little more about electrical signal than some dude listening to music. those also tend to believe that humans are mostly made the same, that one day they will need glasses and that if doctors say human hearing goes from 20hz to 20khz then chances are that their own hearing abilities also lingers somewhere inside those values.
those guys often lose some happiness in exchange for truth as they learn they are not always right.
 
 
-others rely on ego and fame, always thinking that their own opinion or the opinion of the guy they respect most is the truth, and that they can perfectly be right while the entire world is wrong. those guys are the happiest as they never doubt. of course unless they're the american hero of a SF movie, in real life they pretty much always end up being dead wrong. but who cares about details like being wrong? they sure don't. ^_^

 

[esldude]

 
   
BTW, I've read your articles on nulling differences between cables, and wonder why no one does the same for Amplifiers and DACs. 

Well I had intentions of doing the DAC and Amp nulling myself.    After discussions on cables I never bothered.  If you can't convince most with the cables then you have no hope with DACs or amps. 
 
I have done a few DACs one channel vs another.  While not to audible levels genuine differences are much greater than interconnect.   I also believe one would find real differences between amps when they are connected to actual loudspeakers.  I may yet do those for satisfying my own curiosity. 

 

[bigshot]

To some folks facts and careful testing are an impediment to what they want to believe. I don't expend a lot of energy on convincing those folks. I'll leave them to the shrinks.

 

[SilverEars]

  http://en.goldenears.net/1301
.

Good article. Read more into the article and looks like cable structure reveal it's reactive nature? In this case can capacitance or inductance be significant enough to be perceptable? Do some audiophile cables have significant enough reactance to shape FR? Anybody know of any products?  Could this be the reason for people stating cold or warm sounding based on iem cable? Is it possible these cables are purposely added reactance to be perceptable?
 
I've seen Rin's cable measurements which were only flat. He didn't measure the $500 whiplash cable or anything like that. Would like to see the measurement. Are there measurements out there showing non-flat cables?

 

[SilverEars]

Golden Ears have wealth of info. Article on two cables. UE custom cable has 4.8ohms? Possibly for tuning the iem? Looks like the resistance shapes the impedance curve. Looks like area that is more affected is the least reactive area.
 

 

 

[castleofargh]

  Golden Ears have wealth of info. Article on two cables. UE custom cable has 4.8ohms? Possibly for tuning the iem? Looks like the resistance shapes the impedance curve. Looks like area that is more affected is the least reactive area.
 

 

it's a tf10 impedance response with both cable, so only the differences must be looked at, not the overall shape.
TF10 is my favorite pr0n star. I would recognize those curves

anywhere after spending so many years on markuskraus naughty RMAAs. 
 
 
-the bash about EQ vs cable on goldenears post is priceless ^_^.

 

[SilverEars]

I meant shape the overall impedance curve which includes the driver.  I don't expect the cable to have resonance. Not sure if the phase is correct since the peak of the resonance is not 0 phase.  Looks like where it's capacitive is least affected by the cable resistance.

 

[liamstrain]

I don't know, Liam. I think the only thing that has any real meaning to the listener is the subjective experience. You can't really experience a set of numbers or measurements. You can only experience the gestalt. A favorite quote of mine:

The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed—Robert Pirsig

se

There may well be a difference between what we experience, and what is true. But when what we experience is at odds with what we can show to be true, then I personally must defer to what is backed by evidence, not experience. This goes as far as discussions of facts about headphones. I only have issues when someone discusses experiences as though they were facts. I don't care if people want to believe differently, or make music decisions based on factors OTHER than what is measurable - hell, I prefer tubes. But I prefer them, knowing that I find the increased harmonic distortion pleasant - not because they are better (they are inherently flawed - same with vinyl). 
 
As for meaning - at no point have I suggested that facts are the only thing that matters. Just that they are true. 

 

[liamstrain]

  one simply can't seem to be able to thrive on doubt. I feel like being right has nothing to do with happiness, it's thinking we are right that matters, so that we can remove those annoying doubts that put shadows on our everyday happiness. "no diggity, no doubt".
 

 
Skepticism is my bread and butter. Happiness has nothing to do with it. I cannot simply ignore facts, if they are disconcerting.

 

[Steve Eddy]

I only have issues when someone discusses experiences as though they were facts.

Well, unless you're going to call them a liar, their experience is a fact, no?

I know what you're saying, and that's where I draw the line as well. What I was getting at though is that as far as the listener themself is concerned, objective specs and measurements don't have any inherent universal meaning.

se

 

[bigshot]

As long as brussel sprouts are poisonous, because that is my experience with them.

 

[Strangelove424]

If you were allergic to brussel sprouts, and only read audiophile literature, you might very well think that. 

 

[Dark_wizzie]

I see we've moved onto vegetables for this thread. Progress! 

 

[castleofargh]

vegetables are only a practical application of the multiverse theory:
my world is the only real world ...
hell is other people ...
I live in a cave and only see shadows...
if the box smells like dead cat, is quantum theory false?