How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

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Odal3

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How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?
« on: 25 Sep 2016, 11:37 pm »
NPR has an audio quality test where you can compare some compressed songs vs non compressed.

Can you nail all of them?
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

This test is about a year old, so not sure if it has been posted already.

dB Cooper

Re: How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?
« Reply #1 on: 25 Sep 2016, 11:53 pm »
This is an installment of Dr. Mark Waldrep's "Real HD Audio" blog, including technical analysis of the audio samples used in the quiz:
http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=4681

Odal3

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Re: How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?
« Reply #2 on: 26 Sep 2016, 02:48 am »
Thanks for posting the link. Liked reading the analysis.
Yeah, many of these type of comparisons are flawed in one way or another. Still fun to do to see if I could pick out any differences :D

Btw: here's the part 2 and 3 of Waldrep's comments:
http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=4686
http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=4700

The one thing I have learned from doing comparisons of my own files in the past is that it is a bit of a learning curve figuring out what to listen for.

K.F.

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Re: How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?
« Reply #3 on: 12 Oct 2016, 06:03 pm »
These are excellent, but you have to put your player on shuffle.
Or just agree with what they say about how to play the files:
Quote
When you compare the files start with the lowest resolution: D (MP3 320 kbps) and move on up through example C and B ending with A.

Be careful: If you start with A, and move down through B and C ending with D, your mind will remember the ''Blueprint'' of the higher resolution file, making it difficult to hear the difference even when finally listening to the MP3 file. Don't be frustrated if you can't hear a difference at first. Hearing is as individual as taste but hearing is also something which can be acquired, like the taste of good wine.


http://www.soundliaison.com/

K.F.

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Re: How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?
« Reply #4 on: 4 Apr 2017, 07:07 pm »
These are excellent, but you have to put your player on shuffle.
Or just agree with what they say about how to play the files:

http://www.soundliaison.com/
Would be nice if they would ad one of their forth coming DXD files to the sampler as well:
Quote
SOUND LIAISON goes live in the studio, with 4 concerts.
Being recorded in DXD multitrack and one direct to 2 Track Analog Tape.

Our spiritual adviser, Harry van Dalen, owner of the eminent High End audio shop Rhapsody, and guru in all things concerning audiophile audio, came upon the idea of letting Carmen Gomes Inc. remake the famous Harry Belafonte LP; Harry Belafonte Sings the Blues.
He was not looking for an exact copy but and interpretation inspired by the mood and the sound of the album.
He suggested that his partner in crime, Michael van Polen together with Frans , would then record the concert, using analog equipment, direct to a Studer Reel to Reel tape machine, while Sound Liaison could simultaneously record the proceedings in 352.8 kHz (DXD) multitrack, using our newly acquired Merging Technologies DXD recording system.
Carmen immediately loved the idea, as she has grown up listening to that album and other ’’Sings the Blues’’ albums from Nina Simone, Memphis Slim, Aretha Franklin and last but not least Ray Charles, those albums being part of her father's vast LP collection.
That same week we were also approached by the Music Centre of Broadcasters (MCO) with a request to revitalise the live concerts in the legendary Studio II in the MCO building.
So inspired by Harry’s idea we decided that the theme for the concerts should be ”My most influential album’’. We asked some of our favorite artist to reinterpret one of the albums that was influential in their becoming musicians.
Trumpeter Ruud Breuls chose an old LP of Louis Armstrong’s greatest hits, Carmen Gomes, with Harry’s help, decided on her father's old favorite “Harry Belafonte Sings the Blues’’, Paul Berner went for the Beatles “Rubber Soul” and Tony Overwater chose Jim Hall & Ron Carter,  which he will record together with guitarist extraordinaire Maarten van der Grinten.

As of this writing the first two concerts have taken place. We can report that DXD sounds absolutely fantastic. Ruud Breuls who is, due to his many years with the Metropole Orchestra and the Westdeutsche Rundfunk Big Band, perhaps Europe’s most recorded trumpet player, was absolutely stunned when he heard the DXD playback of ”When it’s Sleepy time Down South”. He used words as “real”, and “ it sounds like me” when trying to describe the sound.

The direct to tape recording of Carmen Gomes surpassed all our expectations, the combination of Carmen Gomes’ voice and the Studer 2 track tape machine was a match made in heaven. Carmen who is a big fan of the sound of the classic ‘50 recordings was deeply moved by the result; “It’s the real deal’’ was her comment.
1th generation copies of the ¼ inch master tape will be available via www.analog-mastertapes.com in the near future.
 
Subjectively analogue tape and Dxd feels related in sound quality, they both sound so very natural. But technically there is of course a great difference;
DXD; being purely digital with all the benefits of being able to edit the sound, correct mistakes and so forth in post production; while with the Direct to ¼” Tape; the recording is following a pure analog signal path with no possibility of editing, no correction, the result being what it is, but surely containing a certain ‘’Mojo’’.
We will make the first edition of the series available as soon as possible. (JANUARY)