bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
Phrases like "possibly not even audible" are weasel words. There isn't a chance in hell that any human being is going to hear something down that low no matter how well they're trained. Human hearing has limits and -120dB is so far beyond them, it's pitiful.
I've found that people use vague phrases like this for one of two reasons... 1) they want to protect themselves from someone speaking up with a crazy unlikely exception like "if you were in the atmosphere of Venus and the sound was inside your ear canal you could hear it!" or 2) they want to instill doubt so you say to yourself, "If he says I *probably* don't hear it unless I'm trained, then I believe I can hear it because I try really really hard!"
Audiophiles spend more time talking about inaudible sound than they do things they can actually hear... and that makes sense... Digital audio and modern electronics have solved the problems of fidelity to the level of human hearing. The only think left to sell you is equipment that improves things beyond your ability to hear.
The truth is that plain vanilla CD sound with dithering is already far into the range of overkill. Even without dithering it's more than you need.
I've found that people use vague phrases like this for one of two reasons... 1) they want to protect themselves from someone speaking up with a crazy unlikely exception like "if you were in the atmosphere of Venus and the sound was inside your ear canal you could hear it!" or 2) they want to instill doubt so you say to yourself, "If he says I *probably* don't hear it unless I'm trained, then I believe I can hear it because I try really really hard!"
Audiophiles spend more time talking about inaudible sound than they do things they can actually hear... and that makes sense... Digital audio and modern electronics have solved the problems of fidelity to the level of human hearing. The only think left to sell you is equipment that improves things beyond your ability to hear.
The truth is that plain vanilla CD sound with dithering is already far into the range of overkill. Even without dithering it's more than you need.
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