clemmaster said:

 

aero dynamik said:

  I think it is good advice. I can now pretty well identify 96 Kbps and to some extent, 112 Kbps, but it still feels more or less impossible at 128 Kbps. My hope is that it actually is mostly about training, but I am far from sure that it's enough. It is easy to become exhausted and when that happens, nothing works. Additionally my tinnitus increases when I get pissed.

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A piano track would have been so much easier to notice the difference...
 
I focused on the hi-hat, personally.

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I was eventually able to nail it (Silver Ears level - Details - MP3 Arefacts) and felt extremely happy once I did. Initially I thought I’d never make it, and I really didn’t think training would help either as I’ve been listening critically to music and different headphones for several years. However, to my big surprise training does seem to help. So, to anyone reading this being stuck, my advice is to keep listening, and when you do get tired take a break and come back later. If you keep listening your listening skills will improve even though you may not think so. I should add that I suffer from tinnitus but (with quite a bit of training) was still able to nail it.

I think I focused mainly on the voice and the bass. The bass seemed more or less constant and so helped to contrast the voice which would have an ever so slightly brighter presentation in the low mid-range with more MP3 artefacts. Yes, perhaps a piano would have been a better example in this challenge. It would have been nice to be able to choose from a few different examples. Perhaps something that can be suggested to Philips!

aero dynamik said:

   

I think I focused mainly on the voice and the bass. The bass seemed more or less constant and so helped to contrast the voice which would have an ever so slightly brighter presentation in the low mid-range with more MP3 artefacts. Yes, perhaps a piano would have been a better example in this challenge. It would have been nice to be able to choose from a few different examples. Perhaps something that can be suggested to Philips!

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part of critical listening training is to not be genre dependent.  a piano section may or may not have helped me; i don't listen to much classical. it was the voice that i finally figured out to listen to....which shows that training in fact works!

 
 
I think the hardest for me is the boost and cut-off detection test that you have to remember the sound signature of all the distortions.
 
Personally, mp3 is very hard initially but not hard after you know what you are looking for. I think I cheated with my equipment by using an high quality balance DAC + HDVD800 + HD800 and T1. I was trying to finish the test on my friend's HD650 and didn't get very far from Silver. The high frequency extension is very very hard to tell on that phone.
 
P.S.
Most of time I just pick the sound that sounded different than the other 2. It is easier that way.

Boost and cut-off was the hardest for me, by far.
The rest is very easy.
 
Even frequency extension was child's play with RE-262 (which are clearly not the most extended, to both ends).
The final quizz was an summary of the easiest tests, which makes for a pleasant finish 

 
Finally got around finishing it.. Took a few days break and changed my personality..

I finally made it through.  Got up to bitrate on Silver without creating a profile then decided maybe I should.  Well my assumption that it would save where I was while I signed up was very wrong.  Had to work my way back up.  Bitrate was easily the hardest, but taking a break and really focusing on the high hats and the voices enabled me to go through.  The EQ challenge was obnoxious simply because I had to spend some time memorizing the different sounds.  Almost everything else was pretty easy using my HD800s.  I'm almost sad I made it to Golden Ears, because now I can't just sell everything and be happy with some $50 headphones and 128kbps mp3s.
 

ferday said:

 

aero dynamik said:

   

I think I focused mainly on the voice and the bass. The bass seemed more or less constant and so helped to contrast the voice which would have an ever so slightly brighter presentation in the low mid-range with more MP3 artefacts. Yes, perhaps a piano would have been a better example in this challenge. It would have been nice to be able to choose from a few different examples. Perhaps something that can be suggested to Philips!

Click to expand...

 
part of critical listening training is to not be genre dependent.  a piano section may or may not have helped me; i don't listen to much classical. it was the voice that i finally figured out to listen to....which shows that training in fact works!

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Indeed!

Does any one know the song name used for the space and sound stage test?
I love that recording!

I finally completed it after several days.
 

 
The frequency bands cut or boost were, by far, the most difficult test for me.
The tests were done with my HD580 and my acer laptop (and slow internet) 

mrmagoo said:

  I finally completed it after several days.
 

 
The frequency bands cut or boost were, by far, the most difficult test for me.
The tests were done with my HD580 and my acer laptop (and slow internet) 

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Sweet! Congratulations! Am still struggling with "the frequency bands cut/boost".

mrmagoo said:

  The frequency bands cut or boost were, by far, the most difficult test for me.
The tests were done with my HD580 and my acer laptop (and slow internet) 

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Yeah. By far, that was the hardest section for me.

aero dynamik said:

  Sweet! Congratulations! Am still struggling with "the frequency bands cut/boost".

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Try to use different IEM's/headphones with "the freq. band test". I had used Etymotic HF5/ER4-S throughout the whole test but felt that they didn't quite "cut" it with this particular test so I switched to a a pair of RE262 and I think that helped added with some more practice..

aero dynamik said:

  Sweet! Congratulations! Am still struggling with "the frequency bands cut/boost".

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For me, despite that I could clearly hear the differences, my problem was identifying the frequencies. Easy to hear if it's a boost or a cut but the only way that I found in order to learn how to identify the freq was to practice training for some time until I had the most difficult frequencies for me memorized, and then tried the test again.
I had no problem with the very low or high freq, but the rest of the band sure needs some intensive training.
I think I must have spent 1 to 2 hours before succeeding at this test, so don't give up, and my advice is practice training until you have memorized the less obvious frequencies (for me it was principally 1, 2 4 and 8kHz).
Don't know if that makes sense... sorry for my poor english...

mrmagoo said:

  For me, despite that I could clearly hear the differences, my problem was identifying the frequencies. Easy to hear if it's a boost or a cut but the only way that I found in order to learn how to identify the freq was to practice training for some time until I had the most difficult frequencies for me memorized, and then tried the test again.
I had no problem with the very low or high freq, but the rest of the band sure needs some intensive training.
I think I must have spent 1 to 2 hours before succeeding at this test, so don't give up, and my advice is practice training until you have memorized the less obvious frequencies (for me it was principally 1, 2 4 and 8kHz).
Don't know if that makes sense... sorry for my poor english...

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That makes perfect sense.
As you said, identifying a boost or cut is very easy. The extreme frequencies are straightforward as well.
 
Identifying the other audio bands, indeed, requires some training (save for perfect-pitch people) and is more a matter of experience than hearing acuity. It is a general requirement for Golden ears, though.

jupiterknight said:

 

aero dynamik said:

  Sweet! Congratulations! Am still struggling with "the frequency bands cut/boost".

Click to expand...

Try to use different IEM's/headphones with "the freq. band test". I had used Etymotic HF5/ER4-S throughout the whole test but felt that they didn't quite "cut" it with this particular test so I switched to a a pair of RE262 and I think that helped added with some more practice..

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Switched between my Etymotic ER-4S and my AKG K3003i with reference filters and finally made it all the way! I now got my Golden Ears!