[neobop]

Could we please stop the name calling and patronizing crap? 

What's the point, to create more ill will? 

If there's any more information on this, it might be interesting.  I'm not about to read threads on Head Fi or Headfonia.  Life's too short.
neo

[eclein]

Really guys....back to cans man!!!! 

[toocool4]

Some people descend into insults when they have lost the argument and have nowhere else to go.

Anyway back to the program. Has anyone else taken the challenge, did you find it interesting, frustrating, easy etc did you learn anything from it? 

[Letitroll98]

I went thru the basic level.  Fairly easy, but interesting.  I'll be looking forward to the higher levels.

I did have a question, I didn't register until after passing the basic level so when I did immediately afterwards, the program didn't credit me passing the basic level.  Can I just go to bronze without passing basic again?

[ajzepp]

I got through the first few challenges pretty quickly, and that was while I was working, slumming it with Apple iBuds, and in only one ear (since I had my headset on the other ear). Can't wait to continue, but with some of my better phones

[neobop]

I was browsing at Golden Ears headphone reviews  and came across the Philips Fidelio X-1.  This was the most expensive Philips I could find on Amazon - over $200.  Thought you might be interested:
http://en.goldenears.net/index.php?mid=GR_Headphones&category=275&page=5&document_srl=17992

Look at measured response, a broad peak at 4K and a sharper one at 9K. 

neo

[ajzepp]

Hmmm...this is starting to get very suspicious indeed...

http://www.goldenearsdogs.org/



    http://www.golden-ears.org/



Wow, the rabbit hole goes deep! I wonder if we can send a volunteer to go and check out whether this is their secret meeting place?
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/golden_ears/



omg, this must be where they start the brainwashing from when they are very young
http://schools.sd42.ca/ge/



Hmmm...this one must be...well, I'm at a loss...but since some of us ARE cheese eaters, we can't be too careful!
http://cheesecrafters.ca/



This one is way above my head...we may need to call in an expert to investigate...
http://goldenearstransitioninitiative.ning.com/



Be right back....I need a soda
http://www.goldenearsinsurance.com/index.htm



Very curious...this may be how they intend to make their escape once they are discovered for who and WHAT they are!!
https://goldenearstravel.com/


OMG, I can't BELIEVE I didn't see it before!!! I'm such a FOOL!!!!!   

[toocool4]

Cool love it. Nice one ajzepp.

[ajzepp]

Cool love it. Nice one ajzepp.

 

[neobop]

I don't think there is any giant conspiracy to dupe the headphone community, that could be revealed and embarrass Philips. 

I do think the amplitude aberrations chosen, i.e. the specific frequencies, some emphasized, some diminished, could easily be chosen to favor some phones over others. For example, look at the peak highest in frequency on the timbre test (#1).  It's a large peak at 9KHz.  Doesn't that happen to coincide with the response of some headphones?  Wouldn't a set of phones that have such a response peak tend to reveal that distortion more readily?

That's just one example, but I noticed that intermediate treble frequencies weren't marked, so it would be hard to compare their recorded distortions with known response of phones.  Logic would dictate that frequencies would be emphasized or diminished equally on all phones.  I don't think it's that simple.

This is a great marketing gimmick and Philips would be foolish not to make the most of it.  Take the test with a set of Fidelio TOTL phones and see how easy it is to get your golden ears badge.  It's not like they have the only phones that make it easier.....
neo

Looks like that's at least partially correct.
neo

[Russtafarian]

O.K.  Five days into this thread and we have maybe a half a dozen posts about people’s experience with the Golden Ears Challenge and nearly four pages of conspiracy theory bickering.

Welcome to AudioCircle 2014.  Certainly different than the AudioCircle I joined in 2004.

Russ

[ajzepp]

O.K.  Five days into this thread and we have maybe a half a dozen posts about people’s experience with the Golden Ears Challenge and nearly four pages of conspiracy theory bickering.

Welcome to AudioCircle 2014.  Certainly different than the AudioCircle I joined in 2004.

Russ

Eh, I've been here since 2005...it's not that much different.

[ajzepp]

 

[markie]

I started a couple of weeks ago and came back to it about a dozens times.  Basic level was easy, bronze was harder but just about aced it.  I must have spent 4 hours in Silver - primarily on the Details section. I was probably only about 60 percent at hearing mp3 artifacts, so it took a looong time. The  Timbre section detecting treble energy was next hardest for me, with spectral balance next hardest, followed by the pretty easy Spaciousness (Stereo Width and Reverberation), the easier still Loudness and the easiest (to me) Amount of Bass. 

The Gold level was also a mixed bag for me. It took me a long time (about 4 hours total) to learn the cuts and boosts to the 8 or so frequency bands. To me this was a test of audio memory, and mine needs work. Thank God the gold level didn't have the mp3 artifacts on the details section. Instead it had high frequency extension. I struggled with this a bit, although not nearly as much as the mp3 artifacts in the Silver.  For me it helped to crank the volume in order to detect better the high treble energy.  The bass extension was harder than the amount of bass, but doable. The Loudness and Spaciousness tests were pretty easy. The final Quiz was done in short order. I found Noise and Distortion very easy to detect throughout. All in all, I spent maybe 10 hours on the thing - the vast majority in two sections: the Details mp3 artifacts in Silver and the Timbre 8 frequency bands in Gold.  Overall it was worth it for being informative, although very frustrating in two places! The key is to persevere through the few difficult sections.

My gear is 50 year old brain/ears connected to 4 year old Grado Prestige SR60 headphones (about $70 now?) connected to a one year old imac.       

Mark

[toocool4]

Hi markie nice you stuck to it and got it done. If in the mp3 artifacts section they had used say 256 bit rate and CD / Wav quality, now that would have been very difficult. I am happy they did not do that, as I reckon it would have taken me longer than it took for the Timbre section in Gold.

[markie]

Yeah it was an exercise in perseverance.  Toocool4, how long did it take you?  What equipment do you have?  I'm wondering if the reason I did so poorly in the mp3 artifacts is because of the mediocre dac in my imac.  I guess I'll know when I actually get some higher end equipment. As it is, my music system consists of a imac, headphones and an 8 year old $300  Altec Lansing FX6021 2.1 computer speaker system.  During the test I almost always used the headphones so as not to disturb my family, but on the odd occasion when no one was around I used the speakers, which hardly made any difference in my success in the test. Thus, I suspect the lack was with my mac dac.  Sure it could have been my ears, but I will presume my ears innocent until proven guilty. 

Mark

[markie]

Just read elsewhere that someone else who had his imac feeding headphones did the mp3 artifacts relatively easily.  So I am supposing now it may not be my imac's dac at fault but rather my ears and perhaps my headphones/speakers.
 

[toocool4]

Yeah it was an exercise in perseverance.  Toocool4, how long did it take you?  What equipment do you have?  I'm wondering if the reason I did so poorly in the mp3 artifacts is because of the mediocre dac in my imac.  I guess I'll know when I actually get some higher end equipment. As it is, my music system consists of a imac, headphones and an 8 year old $300  Altec Lansing FX6021 2.1 computer speaker system.  During the test I almost always used the headphones so as not to disturb my family, but on the odd occasion when no one was around I used the speakers, which hardly made any difference in my success in the test. Thus, I suspect the lack was with my mac dac.  Sure it could have been my ears, but I will presume my ears innocent until proven guilty. 

Mark

Not sure exactly how long it took me as I was doing it at work but did the Timbre section at home. I think it took me less than 2 hours, most of the time was spent on the Timbre section.

I used a modified Beyerdynamic T90 connected to a USB Creative Labs Sound Blaster connected to Apple MacBook Pro.   

Checkout one of the replies from a reader on Innerfidelity, he used about 20 headphones. He rated them on how easy or hard it was with each one.

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/audiophile-workout-philips-golden-ears-training?page=1

[markie]

Thanks for the link toocool4. Wow, the guy who tried those 20 different headphones has performed a wonderful service. Very interesting and rather surprising results indeed. Results varied from "Incredibly hard to the point almost impossible" to "Too easy to the point I flew through it".  I suspect my Grado headphones would have been about in the middle:  "hard".