Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Recognizing a small SPL difference seems very difficult

Posted by Richard BassNut Greene on January 15, 2007 at 12:53:38:
No one seems to care during a sighted A-B comparison that two components are very unlikely to play music at exactly the same average SPL.
No one seems to mention that A is louder than B, or B is louder than A, during a sighted comparison when those are easy-to-measure facts.
There have been some casual experiments where listeners were asked what they heard when a change was made. I've done this many times in my own SBT's of borrowed components. The "change" was merely increasing the volume by 1 or 2dB. If this "change" was heard at all, it was rarely described as a small SPL change. It was usually described as a sound quality change.
For my own ears, starting with a modest 75 to 80dB average SPL, increasing the volume 1 or 2 or 3dB tends to make a component sound better to me, at least over the short run. That's important for me to know because a borrowed component that DOES play louder than my own component has an inherent advantage in a single-blind A-B comparison. That's why I do SPL matching.
Everyone seems to claim A and B sound different in sighted auditions, but very few people will try to prove their claim with a follow-up blind audition.
Those that do particpate in blind auditions often find themselves unable to hear differences, or are surpised by how subtle the differences they hear are.
There seems to be a gap between "I know what I hear" beliefs and reality, for some listeners.

Richard BassNut Greene
Subjective Audiophile 2007