[bigshot]

Everyone is subject to expectation bias. Even sound engineers (and producers!). We all have bias and we all have perceptual error. The tool for negating it is simple... a blind, level matched, direct A/B switched comparison. I've done more of these than I can count. The burden of proof is on you to prove a difference if one exists. Don't just guess and tell me what you think. Take a little initiative and check yourself to see if your impression is correct or colored by bias and error. I know what the odds are. I am fairly confident which side of that you fall on.

You are in Sound Science. Here we get to tell you that you need a controlled test if you want us to believe you. Until you get off your butt and start thinking critically, I get to tell you that you most likely have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[ScareDe2]

Paul says that impedance makes a difference. Sometime for the better sometime for the worst, I assume depending on the product :

 

[bigshot]

You sure do love the taste of snake oil! I honestly don't know why you're here. You're talking here in this group with people who know a lot more about these subjects than you do. Some of them know a lot more than the youtube videos you are using as your sources. You could learn something if you listened instead of blindly defending stuff you don't really understand.

 

[ScareDe2]

You sure do love the taste of snake oil! I honestly don't know why you're here. You're talking here in this group with people who know a lot more about these subjects than you do. Some of them know a lot more than the youtube videos you are using as your sources. You could learn something if you listened instead of blindly defending stuff you don't really understand.

I am not the one buying tons of DACs that all sound the same. They cashed in more money selling to this group of frenetic testers who own products worth multiple thousands that they don't even use because they allegedly sound the same as a cheap Ipod, consequence of A/B testings that have blurred every sound aspects of different electronic devices.

 

[bigshot]

tag, you're it

 

[ScareDe2]

From my experience, more impedance with headphone, more impedance from a battery, more impedance from capacitors, even adding a ferrite beads to a cable, all make improvement to the sound.

 

[bigshot]

You are a very compliant consumer.

 

[KeithPhantom]

I have my holy grail DAP a Samsung Galaxy player 4.2 (discontinued) and I found strange that with a brand new battery the sound is different, somewhat harsher, while with the other battery the sound is smoother. I have read, not sure if this applies here, that it needs to go thru 2 full cycles (charge and discharge) so the chemical inside dissolve allowing the battery to provide optimal power. Or something like that.

I assume it's factual that a battery will perform differently as it ages and that it will impact the sound at least slightly. But does it really need a break in period?

What? I would like to know if you are actually serious about this question. Getting DC power right is pretty easy and you don't need fancy filtering as AC step-down. There is no "optimal power", the battery either works or it doesn't. The components only care about getting the power they need, they do not care about break-in, run-in, burn-in, or whatever you want to call it. As @bigshot said, do a blind test and see if you can find the difference in something that most definitively doesn't have any difference other than the number of cycles and voltage.

 

[old tech]

You are a very compliant consumer.

A marketer's dream target

 

[ScareDe2]

What? I would like to know if you are actually serious about this question. Getting DC power right is pretty easy and you don't need fancy filtering as AC step-down. There is no "optimal power", the battery either works or it doesn't. The components only care about getting the power they need, they do not care about break-in, run-in, burn-in, or whatever you want to call it. As @bigshot said, do a blind test and see if you can find the difference in something that most definitively doesn't have any difference other than the number of cycles and voltage.

I agree with your last line and that precisely what is interesting here: voltage and impedance.

 

[KeithPhantom]

I agree with your last line and that precisely what is interesting here: voltage and impedance.

Impedance is just the combination of resistance, capacitance, inductance, and phase angle. Dampening factors can affect the performance of some headphones, but batteries are just power supply elements that do not have any effect on sound. If you want to know if different values in these factors can change the sound, the answer is no just because the tolerances for the operation of a device are tight enough to allow for large swings in these measures.

 

[ScareDe2]

Anyway, before they close more topics and start deleting I will leave it at that for now. You guys are lucky modos are hunting down my threads because I had more science in the making.
GG ✌

 

[castleofargh]

I think you have magical expectations towards electronic. "If it powers on and play it will sound the same forever. And it if doesn't measure the exact same, it can't be detected by a human ears, the difference is inaudible." It's your absolutionist approach. So all these people (sound engineers, guitarists modding the voltage inside their equipment and headfier hearing a difference between batteries) are simply victims of their expectations bias.

Bigshot is wrong for trying to reach a conclusion about the audible difference while not actually knowing much of anything about the situation. It's not impossible for some audible change to exist, so that potential outcome shouldn't be discarded without evidence.
Just like the possibility of you making it all up or forgetting that you had some DSP turned on or a different listening level, shouldn't be discarded without evidence that it's not the case.

I suggest you record the output of your device under the same conditions with both batteries(you'd have to actually check them instead of just assuming they're the same. Volume level, DSPs, recording settings). Then share a sample(to avoid copyright issues) of both with us, so we can at least try to believe that the sound is audibly different if it is audibly different on the tracks.
Without measuring the batteries or knowing the circuit, I doubt that much of anything will come out of this anyway. And what might, would probably just be anecdotal anyway. But at least we would have moved up one step in a scientific approach instead of staying stuck on the ground with someone having some idea, some feelings, and absolutely nothing else.
If you don't want/don't care/can't do that, you should let this thread go IMO. Or try your luck in some other section that might agree to take your feelings and ideas at face value.

 

[KeithPhantom]

Bigshot is wrong for trying to reach a conclusion about the audible difference while not actually knowing much of anything about the situation. It's not impossible for some audible change to exist, so that potential outcome shouldn't be discarded without evidence.
Just like the possibility of you making it all up or forgetting that you had some DSP turned on or a different listening level, shouldn't be discarded without evidence that it's not the case.

I suggest you record the output of your device under the same conditions with both batteries(you'd have to actually check them instead of just assuming they're the same. Volume level, DSPs, recording settings). Then share a sample(to avoid copyright issues) of both with us, so we can at least try to believe that the sound is audibly different if it is audibly different on the tracks.
Without measuring the batteries or knowing the circuit, I doubt that much of anything will come out of this anyway. And what might, would probably just be anecdotal anyway. But at least we would have moved up one step in a scientific approach instead of staying stuck on the ground with someone having some idea, some feelings, and absolutely nothing else.
If you don't want/don't care/can't do that, you should let this thread go IMO. Or try your luck in some other section that might agree to take your feelings and ideas at face value.

Yes in theory but not really. Electronics, specially the portable ones, are usually designed with wear and tear in mind to a certain extent. I understand that a change in sound could happen for any reason we can imagine, but I would call that a poorly engineered device (or just faulty). Also, I would consider the load, because if it requires a lot of power, having diminished voltage can affect the behavior of the internal amplifier and change its sound for good or bad (clipping is an example).

We would need to know more information about this product, but as I expressed, we would need to consider everything under context before saying it sounds the same. OP has to provide information to support his claim and we can look at his specific case.

 

[castleofargh]

Yes in theory but not really. Electronics, specially the portable ones, are usually designed with wear and tear in mind to a certain extent. I understand that a change in sound could happen for any reason we can imagine, but I would call that a poorly engineered device (or just faulty). Also, I would consider the load, because if it requires a lot of power, having diminished voltage can affect the behavior of the internal amplifier and change its sound for good or bad (clipping is an example).

We would need to know more information about this product, but as I expressed, we would need to consider everything under context before saying it sounds the same. OP has to provide information to support his claim and we can look at his specific case.

If I made it look like I treat both possibilities as having the same likelihood, that's not what I happen to think. Human error is always at the top of the list when I'm considering various possibilities, and I always think it should be the first thing to properly test before moving on to explore other possible causes and maybe at some point arrive to why something happens.