[roguegeek]

Interesting. I couldn't make out anything past 

18 kHz. Good or bad?​

 

[kookoo]

  Interesting. I couldn't make out anything past 

18 kHz. Good or bad?​

depends on your age, I went to an actual audiologist to have mine checked, 16,900 Hz, for someone in their mid 20s that's on par with the average

 

[kraken2109]

  Interesting. I couldn't make out anything past 

18 kHz. Good or bad?​

18kHz is fairly good, I'm about the same. There isn't going to be much above that in music.

 

[roguegeek]

I'm was having a fairly difficult time on the bit-rate differences section of the challenge.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

Well, that was certainly entertaining! I really don’t know how serious these challenges are, but I didn’t make it to ”Golden Ears”. Yikes! 

I plugged in my Etymotics ER-4S and used my 1 Ohm modified CEntrance DACport and felt that none of the challenges were all that challenging, actually reasonably easy, even the challenges for “Golden Ears”. However, I failed one challenge and one challenge only and I failed it utterly and completely. That challenge was just impossible for me. I couldn’t get anywhere with it. Anyone care to guess which one? (I’ll unveil the answer tomorrow and would then like to discuss it and see if anyone else failed that particular challenge.)
 
Thanks for any guesses!
 
EDIT: Just realized I'm stuck on "Silver Ears" as I can't get passed the challenge mentioned above.

 

[ForceMajeure]

  Well, that was certainly entertaining! I really don’t know how serious these challenges are, but I didn’t make it to ”Golden Ears”. Yikes! 

I plugged in my Etymotics ER-4S and used my 1 Ohm modified CEntrance DACport and felt that none of the challenges were all that challenging, actually reasonably easy, even the challenges for “Golden Ears”. However, I failed one challenge and one challenge only and I failed it utterly and completely. That challenge was just impossible for me. I couldn’t get anywhere with it. Anyone care to guess which one? (I’ll unveil the answer tomorrow and would then like to discuss it and see if anyone else failed that particular challenge.)
 
Thanks for any guesses!
 
EDIT: Just realized I'm stuck on "Silver Ears" as I can't get passed the challenge mentioned above.

bitrate.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Silver ears? I am guessing the codecs/bitrate or reverberation challenge.

 

[roguegeek]

I'm a little stuck on reverberation right now, so that might be my pick.

 

[mrAdrian]

I'm stuck at both reverb and bitrate, but I actually have more confidence in the reverb tests...

 

[CrunchyChick]

Hmm, I can't hear above 17kHz and even that sounded about half as loud as 16kHz
 
drumming does wonders for hearing loss ;  anywho, time to take the challenge !!!
 
edit :
 
 
hardest on this section was timbre : coloration for me
 
edit 2 : 
 

 

[kookoo]

  I'm stuck at both reverb and bitrate, but I actually have more confidence in the reverb tests...

Still stuck on the reverb? C'mon i know you can do that one

 

[Whitetriton]

Have you noticed a difference in your ability to complete the different tests using different headphones?  I have a pair of LCD-3 on loan and they were good for some of the tests, but, I could not do the reverb AT ALL with them.  I switched to the HE-500 and was able to get through it without nearly as many incorrect guesses. 

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I think the hardest thing in the reverberation is that we don't know the definitive characters of a reverb at the first time.
I found out what reverberation sounds like after this test, at first I got a few incorrect guesses but when you start to hear a difference then you can glide past through it.

Good luck!

 

[bob439]

  Have you noticed a difference in your ability to complete the different tests using different headphones?  I have a pair of LCD-3 on loan and they were good for some of the tests, but, I could not do the reverb AT ALL with them.  I switched to the HE-500 and was able to get through it without nearly as many incorrect guesses. 

Had to shuffle 3 headphones to get through, but taking a break helped as much.
 

 

[Aero Dynamik]

 

  Well, that was certainly entertaining! I really don’t know how serious these challenges are, but I didn’t make it to ”Golden Ears”. Yikes! 

I plugged in my Etymotics ER-4S and used my 1 Ohm modified CEntrance DACport and felt that none of the challenges were all that challenging, actually reasonably easy, even the challenges for “Golden Ears”. However, I failed one challenge and one challenge only and I failed it utterly and completely. That challenge was just impossible for me. I couldn’t get anywhere with it. Anyone care to guess which one? (I’ll unveil the answer tomorrow and would then like to discuss it and see if anyone else failed that particular challenge.)
 
Thanks for any guesses!
 
EDIT: Just realized I'm stuck on "Silver Ears" as I can't get passed the challenge mentioned above.

bitrate.

 
 

  Silver ears? I am guessing the codecs/bitrate or reverberation challenge.

 
 

  I'm a little stuck on reverberation right now, so that might be my pick.

 
 

  I'm stuck at both reverb and bitrate, but I actually have more confidence in the reverb tests...

Thanks for your guesses! The right answer is bitrate, what PHILIPS call MP3 Artifacts. It just seems impossible for me and it certainly makes me wonder why. I did find the other challenges to be reasonably easy, but to me bitrate is like running into a brick wall.
 
It makes me wonder if something is wrong with my hearing, but if so why then didn’t I have any real problems with the other challenges? The only other explanation I can come to think of - except that something may actually be wrong with my hearing – is that the DAC of my CEntrance DACport is able to covert even the lower bitrates to a very fine analog signal. Or, it could be the other way around, i.e. that the DAC is unable to convert any bitrate to a fine analog signal. However, I find that to be less likely.
 
So what do you think; hearing, DAC, or maybe something else? Also, does anyone know if the “Golden Ears” level is possible to unlock without passing the bitrate challenge? I already know I won’t be able to pass “Golden Ears” as I know for a fact I can’t hear a sinus tone above about 11 kHz to 12 kHz. Nevertheless, it would nice to see how far I’d be able to go.
 
Thanks for any help, input or thoughts!
 
EDIT: Just noticed that I'm able to detect 96 Kbps by cranking up volume to an unhealthy level, but above 96 Kbps not even that helps.