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RE: And...

E-Stat said:
"why some like THD or SINAD have little to no correlation with what we hear."

True, while the human perceptual system has a wide tolerance to THD and SINAD, let's not get too extreme and suggest "little to no correlation". As per the blind test results using purposely distorted audio linked below, the overall results based on 55 respondents who felt they could hear a difference, there was a preference for distortion less than 0.3% (-50dB) being "better" sounding. While DACs and most good amplifiers can achieve better than this, many speakers would not be able to claim this level of low distortion (across the whole audible spectrum).

While it's not necessarily the end-all-and-be-all of technical measurements, it's good to keep in mind that low THD/high SINAD does correlate with low nonlinear distortion and in general I think it's nice to aim for <0.1% (-60dB) as a reflection of a "transparent" source device which will likely be well received as being good sounding. Obviously formal blind testing recommended to better understand/verify this.

Obviously this is a generalization. As with most human characteristics distributed over a "normal" curve, some audiophiles might actually prefer more distortion, while others demand even lower distortion.
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Archimago's Musings: A 'more objective' audiophile blog.


Edits: 11/26/20 11/26/20
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