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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: Measurement and Perception and the Value of Each (Long Post) posted by jrlaudio on November 3, 2012 at 00:46:42:
My take is pretty simple:
1. Measurements are essential to design any gear.
2. Measurements can *sometimes* explain a hard-to-pin-down sonic anomaly, like the interaction of an amplifier with a speaker's impedance curve, or with highly capacitive wire.
3. You can't measure a Stradivarius to the point where you can identify the individual instrument from its measurements, but you can you can do that with your ears in an instant, even if you're hearing it through a telephone.
4. All recordings go through a long chain of gear, and are tracked, mixed, and mastered by engineers with hugely varied experience, habits, and personal taste. This item vastly overshadows what goes on in our repro systems at home.
Measurements are very useful, but have limitations, especially if you are trying to predict how real a recording will sound - the numbers are rarely helpful in this, until they get to extremes, such as extremely high measurable distortion, or extremely little dynamic range (too much compression.) We don't have a "number" standard for that one, but you can sure see it in your DAW of choice. Like the Stradivarius, the absence of a measurement standard does not mean "it" doesn't exist.
When standard measurements do exist, use them to help you. I knew the Manley 120 monoblocks had a pretty high output impedance, which would likely be audible when they were paired with my Spica TC-50s, but I also knew I was chopping everything below 80Hz pretty sharply to pass to a subwoofer, so it should have been tolerable. It was, and is.
Use measurements to inform your choices, and confirm everything with your ears.
My personal measurable pass/fail test is being able to come home from a concert, recital, or opera in a great hall (or a rock band in a good space with good front-of-house engineers), put on a record, and not throw up.
WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.
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Follow Ups
- re: initial post - Bill Way 19:27:09 12/12/12 (1)
- re: "you can identify a Stradavarius in an instant by ear" - geoffkait 16:26:45 12/14/12 (0)
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