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Novelty toy makers, not experimental scientists

In the recent positive DB tests, the physical switch box has been replaced by software that selects between playback of two audio files. In this case if the two files are in the same format then the only difference between the sounds produced comes from differences in the files themselves. There is no sonic degradation from the test jig. So in this case there are adequate controls against losing the ability to hear audible differences. Ironically this software has glitches that work in the opposite way, take inaudible differences and make them easy to hear. A good example is a tiny (sub millisecond) time shift between the two files coupled with the ability to play arbitrary clips in the files. I know this for a fact, because once I observed this going on I was able to easily exploit this weakness and to hear differences that would otherwise have been difficult.

The people building this ABX hardware and ABX software have shown themselves to be adequate novelty toy makers, but not proper experimental scientists.



Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar


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  • Novelty toy makers, not experimental scientists - Tony Lauck 15:19:26 12/07/14 (0)

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