[mahlerfan]

Most of the time it seems that people just say I hear that this is different or the same.

Unlike with headphones I would think that it would be feasible to actually test the difference between sources.

Here's what I think--

(1) okay first when I say source I mean everything before the amp. It's the thing that takes a recording and reads it and reproduces an analog waveform.

(2) If you take the exact same recordings you should be able to tell how different those waveforms should be, as simple as taking the absolute value of the difference and say integrating over the full length of the recording. Obviously you would take many different recordings and assemble statistics from them, looking for an average.

(3) the complication-- to do that analysis I think that it might be necessary to adc the signals (to turn it into a time series for a computer to analyze) which introduces a source of uncertainty.

Still there should be a solid way to actually compare how cd players etc compare against each other. Even if you can't make a judgment based upon that analysis on which is better, I think it would be valuable information to know how they differed from one another.

So my questions are what do you think? And has this been done before?

It wouldn't replace listening for yourself, but it would help consumers cut through the noise of all the differing opinions.

 

[1UP]

I have missed your point. Do you mean measured differences?

The obvious test is just to listen to them!!!!!!

 

[mahlerfan]

Yes measured differences-- to say something objective for a change!!

 

[jefemeister]

CD players can be and are measured a bunch of different ways. Look at a Stereophile review of one and flip to the test and measurement section. You can measure all the things you can on any piece of equipment. THD+N, channel sep, noise floor, inter-modulation distortion, harmonic shape, linearity, etc

 

[mahlerfan]

Thanks, I'll go poking around their website this evening.