Measuring objectively real differences in files with identical checksums

[kirkmc]

On 2/18/2020 at 1:35 AM, wgscott said:

Since it is now well-established by many members (see relevant PMs) that bitwise-identical files can sound hugely different, like night and day

 

Is it?

 

On 2/18/2020 at 2:23 PM, John Dyson said:

i have narrowed down the differences to how my perception varies.   If a file is bit for bit the same, the the difference is in mood and perception.   My precision technical 'listening memory' is extremely short, on the order of 10seconds.   My 'hearing memory' for gross differences is a bit longer.

It is very easy to perceive the exact same material differently from listening attempt to listening attempt.

 

Of course. The way you hear anything varies according to so many different conditions and filters that it's pretty hard to think that it is ever exactly the same. The time of day, your fatigue, the conditions of your sinuses, whether or not your blood sugar is normal or low, and the level of alcohol in your blood; all these things affect what you hear. 

 

I find these discussions fascinating, because of the attempt to explain by subjectivity something that doesn't exist, yet it's something that people can hear. In other words, music can sound different at different times, but assuming that two different bit-identical played through the same equipment sound "hugely different" for any reason other than that of the listener shows a real desire to complicate things. 

 

The second quote above should be so obvious, yet some people cling to the far more complicated postulate. Occam's razor, and all that. 

[kirkmc]

The person was talking about files, not CDs. CDs can certainly have problems in their plastic and pressing, though these would not affect the "sound" but rather introduce artifacts. 

[kirkmc]

Clicks and pops are disturbances, they don't affect the overall sound quality. I've rarely had CDs with more than one or two. 

 

Files are not an abstraction, especially if you buy files by download. If anything, CDs are an abstraction. Music is recorded either using analogue or digital techniques, and ends up digital at some point if it's going to be put on a CD. So the final existence of music before it is reproduced is a digital file. 

 

Unless you're just trolling... 

[kirkmc]

So why mention CDs?