- Joined
- Apr 15, 2019
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I do not have golden ears.
My hearing is normal for my age. I can hear up to 16kHz. I don't have tinnitus.
To me, there is no music above 18kHz. I noticed that even when I could hear 20kHz (back when 128kbps MP3s were all the rage).
This means all the high res stuff is lost on me. 44.1kHz is good enough!
I can barely, barely hear -75dB signal when 0dB is played at 85dBA SPL (thread here).
So if my amp or DAC is adding distortions, which has SINAD under -70dB, I probably couldn't hear it. And if that distortion is 2nd harmonic (one octave higher), there is no way I'm going to notice that at all. Besides, the most beautiful thing about bells and harpsichords are the harmonics.
That means 24 bits is lost on me, 16 bits is overkill, and 12 bits is good enough!
What all that above means that I can use "consumer grade" DACs, power amps, and be happy. Sure I have money to spend on things that perform better than -70dB SINAD, but unless the "cheap stuff" is broken some how, it's just psychological safety.
Heck, at 70dB, 12 bits, LP records would sound great!
What I DO notice, though is frequency response. If a speaker or headphone has a +3dB hump somewhere (in fact, anywhere), my non-golden ears WILL notice it.
I also hear 60Hz hum. I go eliminating those with a vengeance.
Oh, and room modes. They are very annoying.
And knowing what I can hear let me focus on spending money on things that I can hear. Like good speakers. Subwoofer to fill in the bottom end and DSP to correct room modes at the listening position.
And I spend many hours just listening to music. Youtube is so great for finding new stuff. And random stuff.
Thanks ASR for letting me gain all this knowledge, direct my $$$ and attention to the important things, and enjoy high quality audio. These days even watching Disney movies with my little ones is a joyful auditory experience.
Good sound is Good.
My hearing is normal for my age. I can hear up to 16kHz. I don't have tinnitus.
To me, there is no music above 18kHz. I noticed that even when I could hear 20kHz (back when 128kbps MP3s were all the rage).
This means all the high res stuff is lost on me. 44.1kHz is good enough!
I can barely, barely hear -75dB signal when 0dB is played at 85dBA SPL (thread here).
So if my amp or DAC is adding distortions, which has SINAD under -70dB, I probably couldn't hear it. And if that distortion is 2nd harmonic (one octave higher), there is no way I'm going to notice that at all. Besides, the most beautiful thing about bells and harpsichords are the harmonics.
That means 24 bits is lost on me, 16 bits is overkill, and 12 bits is good enough!
What all that above means that I can use "consumer grade" DACs, power amps, and be happy. Sure I have money to spend on things that perform better than -70dB SINAD, but unless the "cheap stuff" is broken some how, it's just psychological safety.
Heck, at 70dB, 12 bits, LP records would sound great!
What I DO notice, though is frequency response. If a speaker or headphone has a +3dB hump somewhere (in fact, anywhere), my non-golden ears WILL notice it.
I also hear 60Hz hum. I go eliminating those with a vengeance.
Oh, and room modes. They are very annoying.
And knowing what I can hear let me focus on spending money on things that I can hear. Like good speakers. Subwoofer to fill in the bottom end and DSP to correct room modes at the listening position.
And I spend many hours just listening to music. Youtube is so great for finding new stuff. And random stuff.
Thanks ASR for letting me gain all this knowledge, direct my $$$ and attention to the important things, and enjoy high quality audio. These days even watching Disney movies with my little ones is a joyful auditory experience.
Good sound is Good.