Hey nice test, i actually wanted to check the spectrums but i thought that would be cheating. I guess there's something to learn from this test. I sure won't trust subtle differences in the future without some sort of explanation. And that eq thing happens to me too. Oh, and yes, thanks for...

I never thought of using dolby headphone for gaming. Frankly, to me dolby HP sounds somewhere between a bathroom and some sort of tunnel , depending on the presets. I don't use it for movies , either, since i have an actual receiver. But, to the point, every gamer that i ever met used stereo...

Quote: Thanks for the answer, i know the probabilities of seven out of nine, but i got tired and started to second guess everything. I did hear the difference between them. If i had to guess in an abx test without consciously hearing a difference i would have to consider the tracks...

It simply changes the volume of the decoded data, it's a "software" volume control, like an equaliser.(or the pc wav volume). Sound check also does the same thing, although automatically. And the enhancer is equaliser+ stereo widening. You should probably have them turned off.

  I got 7/9 abx score, the cymbals are darker one one of them.I guess it's b, higher quality, does the foobar abx comparator pick first file as a and second as b, or random. Still think it's b, but i am tired and can hardly tell.

The active speakers you linked don't look so good. From the picture you can see they are one way, so they will suffer greatly in the highs department. They are also too small, and they'll probably sound boxy. That said i can't really help you with your question, I'd say go with any amp...

Quote: The 598 driver looks different than the driver in my 595. From the pictures the differences are the four dots around the driver and the dark ring around the center driver hole. The baffles are also different, the 598 has different (asymetric) spoke spacing in the bottom half. Also...

I like crossfeed on some songs, but since i listen to wide range of genres, it has detrimental effect on some. So i end up not using it. Try listening to techno with crossfeed on. That and i cant have both vnophones and bass enhancer at the same time.

Technically you cant sell the CD's because then you would be in breach of copyright law. Also, cd's may end up like vinyl, you never know . The last part is a joke.

The problem is that whoever mixed the album mixed it using headphones and monitors, and no matter how flat those were they still have their own signature. Even the engineer's preferred listening volume would have altered the neutrality of any headphones due to the loudness curves.

this "chat wire" , is it the microphone wire? And maybe post your 5.1 decoder info if possible.

Well, it seems that "not applicable" is the answer. The format you listed is a "sequenced" format, sort of like midi's or mods. It isn't really compressed, and decoded at your end, it is simply the computer playing certain notes in a given order. It's an interesting idea using it for testing...

The 555's should be somewhat of an improvement. Considering that you are replacing a 5.1 headset with them should pretty much guarantee you an (huge) improvement. The sonar is a nice piece of hardware, but the differences can pretty subtle if you are new to high end, considering the 555s don't...

The wav volume is changed by windows. About the laptop, well, many people swear by win7 wasapi, but others find it has problems, and still, you could configure win xp to bypass the mixer by using kernel streaming or ASIO, and sound the same as win 7. In any case the difference is very small, it...

Have you tried to set the usb device as preferred recording device, somewhere in control panel / audio (name may vary, i have xp). Or you could set it in your sound recording application. Windows should already have the driver, especially if you can see it in the control panel.

Usually the standard for quoting frequency responses is the - 3 db limit. That would mean 85Hz is 3db lower than other frequencies. You can still have ,say, 40 hz, it is probably very quiet. The numbers are usually made up in many (cheap) products, especially those with 5-20000hz response...

I use a aspirin tablet under the wire, when i touch it with a soldering iron (hot). I wouldn't breathe the fumes, although, they are prolly harmless. If i don't have an aspirin i use a panadol. The aspirin trick is pretty well known in the electronics community.

The xlr plugs are used for balanced input, since your souncard does not have balanced output you would need to wire the xlr plugs in unbalanced mode. that usually means connecting the "live" signal wire to plus and the minus and ground to minus. There might be a better way of doing it but this...

If it's not a huge amount of noise it should work, also you need to have some overhead left, since it is an attenuator. If you already use volume at max it would be too quiet with it.

The soundstage is not determined by frequency response, but mostly by phase differences between left and right ears, and reflections caused by the headphones themselfs. The frequency response could do something to the perception of HRTF's but really, it's unknown territory. This subject hasn't...

you could use one of those in-line attenuators, that's pretty much their purpose. I am not sure of their exact name, though. You could make one yourself, it's only 2 or 4 resistors.

Yes, interesting samples, thanks for posting them. The 192 sample is not so different from the 96 one to my ears (i cant tell them apart). On the 44khz sample the sibilance is also worse.   I wonder if the differences are due to the sampling rate or bit depth.  I'll do some testings now...

Interestingly i had to install foobar on another computer today and noticed in the latest version some of the folders have moved. I think the themes go in /%application data%/foobar2000/profiles, somewhere. Anyway your skin's help is for the older version, which is why you are having problems.

i wonder, can you post a higher sampling rate sample if you have one, it would be interesting to compare.

The hydrogen forums aren't down... they are never down. And yes i have tried.   anyway try...