A Blind Listening Test

[Card R]

After receiving and installing my new Zuma CAPS 3, (which I like very much thanks to Chris and Andrew at Small Green Computer), we had a blind listening test.

 

 

The subject was a recording of the SanFrancisco Symphony of “Short Ride In A Fast Machine. “ One, an accurate rip from the CD, and the other was a 24/88 download from HDTracks. One person randomly played a selection of the 2 and recorded his actions. The listener recorded his choice and in 5 out of 5 cases was able to distinguish the Hi res track from the CD.

The obvious winner was the 24/88. Right near the beginning there is run of triplets (I think) by the piccolo and the CD definitely has a slight smear this passage.

 

As far as I am concerned the only way to evaluate any device, system or recording is by blind testing.

Humans are full of biases. We believe the hype, the opinions of others and consider the cost of what we are trying to evaluate. Sometimes the differences are so small that they are hardly worth the often extravagant pricing by some manufacturers. (Yes I know all about the law of diminishing returns in the audio world.)

 

Try this: Go to a good audio store with a blindfold. Before you go into the demo room tell the salesperson you want to hear say three sets of speakers all in the same price range and one additional pair that is much more expensive. Put your blindfold on, go into the room and listen. You might be surprised and you might save some money too. Or of course you might spend a lot more money too... what fun.

 

I take all of the hype, claims and reviews about audio with a large dose of salt. If at all possible friends, try to do a blind testing before buying, especially with something like DACs and don't even get me started about the sonic difference between USB cables!

[wgscott]

OK, now post a spectrum of the HD tracks download and show that it is something other than the usual up-sampled rebook.

 

Maybe this is the first triple-blind test.

[Blake]

Blindfold? How about this: trust your ears and your brain.

[DaQi]

With all the possible flaws in listening tests it is VERY difficult to eliminate bias. Lots of recent posts on this but this article reference on CA was for me the most eye-opening as to the difficulties:

 

Boston Audio Society - ABX Testing article

 

I have been doing the computer digital music thing now for almost 10 years and am starting to up my game. As a scientist by training and working in the pharmaceutical research industry, I am acutely aware of human bias and the difficulties in eliminating it. As such I haven't even tried doing ABX testing due to the inherent difficulties. Also as a scientist, my first step is to read up and learn as much as I can about a topic before trying experiments. This is where it really gets difficult as the more I am learning about digital audio the more I am not sure whether higher resolution sounds better or not and yes, I do understand and follow the math and physics behind it.

 

All of this leads me to believe that regardless of the answer regarding higher resolution source material there is a lot of potential in good old CD and my money is better spent downstream where I know it can make a difference.

 

That said though I take some points made on CA that some of the higher resolution material available may be better quality not so much because it is higher resolution but because more care was taken in the process. Problem here is that until you have bought it and done the analysis or read about someone else who did the analysis it is hard to tell. With some results coming back that high resolution material is in fact just up-sampled and in fact doesn't represent any better quality in the mastering process as a consumer I am cautious. This again leads me back to skipping purchases of high resolution material, enjoying the potential in CDs and spending my money on things that are less contentious and much more likely to improve my enjoyment of the music.

 

All that being said and thinking about enjoying my music. I think I will get myself a dram of Talisker and enjoy some music.