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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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In Reply to: Another Sample Of An Audio Component That Doesn't Measure Well, But Sounds Great. posted by thetubeguy1954 on November 7, 2006 at 09:17:55:
I believe it was this forum where someone posted a link to something called Cheevers thesis. This is just one example but the paper addresses many of the points you raise.For example it talks about the shape of the ear cannal and the associated resulting accoustical response of the ear canal. My understanding is that the paper is saying that the distortions caused by the shape of the ear canal are easily filtered by our brains due to many generations of humans having this shape has allowed us to adapt in a way to overcome the shortcomings of the hearing methods we all use. It just so happens that different amplifier topologies have different modes of adding distortion to the output result due to the different behaviors of the devices as they go into and out of the supply rails. According to the paper the distortions caused by a tube amplifier going into clipping contains more distortion energy of the type easily filtered by our brains than solid state clipping distortion does. So in other words tube amps can be be pushed further into clipping before we as humans can even detect a problem than solid state amps.
The paper goes on to address the fact that the specs given in amplifier spec sheets leave out the data which is describing this affect. The paper claims that tests show that proper mathematical weighting (I forget the details about the formulas used) of certain specs result in data which does correlate well to actual human preference. So,if you can believe this paper, there are ways to manipulate measured data data such that the specs can be meaningful for actual human preference. I would think that the smarter manufacturers will eventially pick up on this fact and then attempt to capitalize on it.
Honestly, many of the details, fancier mathematics, physics went right over my head and I can't even remember the name of this magical spec that is so important, but the paper makes a believable argument using scientifically gathered data and reasonable evaluation of the data.
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Follow Ups
- There have been papers/ studies that address details about how humans interpret sounds.... - Ugly 13:56:50 11/07/06 (0)
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