Welcome to the ZeroGain Forum!
Welcome to ZeroGain, one of the world's largest hifi and music discussion forums. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which gives you access to view all discussions, but registering an account will give you access to post in discussions, create your own threads, communicate privately with other enthusiasts, respond to polls and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us for support.

To register now click here.
View Poll Results: Is 'Sample-Question' the same as Sample-X or Sample-XX?
It is the same as sample X 5 55.56%
It is the same as sample XX 4 44.44%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 18th October 2009, 17:36   #1
Tenson
Registered User
 
Tenson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 4,817

AudioSmile simple ABX test

The test is simple, here are two samples of music. (The same two samples as the previous test, so no need to download again!)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama

Sample-X
http://www.mediafire.com/?glzqyk5eifz

Sample-XX
http://www.mediafire.com/?jujgtzx4m20

One is a direct rip from the CD, the other has been passed through an AudioSmile DEQ as a DAC and then in to another unit as an ADC. Two layers of conversion which in theory should make the sound worse.

Here is another sample, and it is exactly the same as one of the above - please tell me which! Is this a copy of sample X or sample XX?

Sample-Question (is it X or XX?)
http://www.mediafire.com/?q0jjtz1ioj2
__________________
www.audiosmile.co.uk
Kensai - Our vision of the ultimate compact speaker
Bespoke Supertweeters - Ribbon supertweeters designed for your speakers
Modified DEQ / SRC - Affordable high performance DAC and room correction.
Tenson is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 18:35   #2
InZain
Me in another Jacket
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SE Essex
Posts: 16

Umm, I noticed the digital waveform of the new download is different to sample X & XX maybe that is why it took me longer to decide, nonetheless I made my decision based on as closely related to it as possible.
InZain is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 18:38   #3
Tenson
Registered User
 
Tenson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 4,817

I made it just the tiniest bit different in length to stop someone trying to compare it on a computer by file size or something

I do hope people don't cheat by doing a computer comparison.

Thanks for taking part InZain!
__________________
www.audiosmile.co.uk
Kensai - Our vision of the ultimate compact speaker
Bespoke Supertweeters - Ribbon supertweeters designed for your speakers
Modified DEQ / SRC - Affordable high performance DAC and room correction.
Tenson is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 18:46   #4
InZain
Me in another Jacket
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SE Essex
Posts: 16

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenson View Post
I made it just the tiniest bit different in length to stop someone trying to compare it on a computer by file size or something

I do hope people don't cheat by doing a computer comparison.

Thanks for taking part InZain!
I didn't notice that, what I noticed is, how the digital peaks differed in certain parts of the track.
InZain is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 19:18   #5
darrylfunk
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 202

are we not supposed to be just using our ears for this test or is every body scared to for fear of the ridicule by the golden eared.
darrylfunk is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 20:54   #6
robM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 344

Quote:
I made it just the tiniest bit different in length to stop someone trying to compare it on a computer by file size or something
Having not listened to this new ABX comparison, is it worth it as it sounds like you've just tampered with the copies.

Can you fully explain what you have done?
robM is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 21:36   #7
RobHolt
Moderator: Trade
 
RobHolt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,150

I think you quoted the answer - length.

Two of the files are 2.00 minutes long and the other is one sec shorter according to my player.
__________________
Rob
RobHolt is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 22:09   #8
robM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 344

well that is nothing to worry about.
robM is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 23:08   #9
Tenson
Registered User
 
Tenson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 4,817

Quote:
Originally Posted by InZain View Post
I didn't notice that, what I noticed is, how the digital peaks differed in certain parts of the track.
Quote:
Originally Posted by robM View Post
Having not listened to this new ABX comparison, is it worth it as it sounds like you've just tampered with the copies.

Can you fully explain what you have done?
All I did was chop off 500ms from the end of one track to make file size comparisons impossible. I'm sad to see it was wroth it!

You can still put it in an editor like Audacity and check, but please don't until the results are all in. Believe me when I say that two of those tracks are exactly the same apart from one missing 500ms at the end.

The question is, can you detect it by ear?
__________________
www.audiosmile.co.uk
Kensai - Our vision of the ultimate compact speaker
Bespoke Supertweeters - Ribbon supertweeters designed for your speakers
Modified DEQ / SRC - Affordable high performance DAC and room correction.
Tenson is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 23:26   #10
InZain
Me in another Jacket
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SE Essex
Posts: 16

Audacity is what I use now for comparing & looking at these internet downloadable files, this tells me quite a lot about volume level, digital distortion, compression etc & more importantly the playback quality is far superior than Windows media player.
InZain is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 23:48   #11
Tenson
Registered User
 
Tenson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Kent, UK
Posts: 4,817

Well I hope you didn't look at any of that before you cast your vote? Even looking at level meters as it plays might do something to bias!
__________________
www.audiosmile.co.uk
Kensai - Our vision of the ultimate compact speaker
Bespoke Supertweeters - Ribbon supertweeters designed for your speakers
Modified DEQ / SRC - Affordable high performance DAC and room correction.
Tenson is offline Reply With Quote
Old 18th October 2009, 23:59   #12
InZain
Me in another Jacket
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SE Essex
Posts: 16

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenson View Post
Well I hope you didn't look at any of that before you cast your vote? Even looking at level meters as it plays might do something to bias!
They looked identical level wise so your safe there it's only the new sample that took my attention when I was selecting specific parts to listen to that's when I noticed it was not identical to the others.

I can assure you nothing other than the recording influenced my vote.... I was to busy trying to hear differences & being sure that what I heard was repeatable.
InZain is offline Reply With Quote
Old 20th October 2009, 13:51   #13
kmac
Registered User
 
kmac's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 560

Will have to wiat till I get home to try this - for some reason mediafire website is blocked at work.

Dissapointing that only 3 people have voted so far...
kmac is offline Reply With Quote
Old 7th November 2009, 13:40   #14
scott_01
Registered User
 
scott_01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 433

Tenson

Which one was it then?

This test does appear to indicate that we can't tell the differences between the straight CD and the one that has been subject to additional DAC and ADC.
scott_01 is offline Reply With Quote
Old 7th November 2009, 14:49   #15
RobHolt
Moderator: Trade
 
RobHolt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,150

Eight is a very small sample, but yes.
Disappointing that so many people aren't confident enough to rely solely on their ears.
__________________
Rob
RobHolt is offline Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:17.
vBulletin, Copyright Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.