On the topic of hearing acuity - can you detect a 0.5db difference...
some years back I digitised a series of tracks from vinyl, using different cartridges - I carefully level matched them... to within 1db
They sounded substantially different - each cartridge had its own character - very clearly so
After participating in various discussions about hearing etc... I returned to those tracks, and level matched them to under 0.5db
Keeping in mind that these are phono cartridges - mechanical transducers - their responses are measurably different in various ways frequency response being the most obvious one! - I level matched them based on the average level measured across the entire track - and carefully matched the start and end point of the track. - Each cartridge had also been individually adjusted both mechanically, and electrically (ie capacitance and resistive loads) to achieve the most neutral possible response.
at a matching of better than 0.5db average - I could not discern differences without very very careful repeated listening, and switching back and forth - and even then, it may all have been psychological - I am not convinced that double blind, I could tell them appart.
At a matching of only +/-1db - they were distinctly different - and easily seperated
In terms of how loud they sounded - with either matching option, they all sounded like they were the same loudness - there was no discernible difference in loudness.
The three components in the audio chain, that are the least linear, and therefore have the most impact on the "character" or "Voicing" of what we hear, are the microphone, the cartridge (if talking vinyl), and the speakers.
It is very valuable as an individual to do these kind of tests, and become aware of the limits of our hearing acuity - once you truly realise this (!!!) - then you can start to ignore (or weight them more lightly in your evaluations) a whole category of measurements, in the knowledge that although they can and do have an impact, in the overall scheme of things, they may not be all that important!!
some years back I digitised a series of tracks from vinyl, using different cartridges - I carefully level matched them... to within 1db
They sounded substantially different - each cartridge had its own character - very clearly so
After participating in various discussions about hearing etc... I returned to those tracks, and level matched them to under 0.5db
Keeping in mind that these are phono cartridges - mechanical transducers - their responses are measurably different in various ways frequency response being the most obvious one! - I level matched them based on the average level measured across the entire track - and carefully matched the start and end point of the track. - Each cartridge had also been individually adjusted both mechanically, and electrically (ie capacitance and resistive loads) to achieve the most neutral possible response.
at a matching of better than 0.5db average - I could not discern differences without very very careful repeated listening, and switching back and forth - and even then, it may all have been psychological - I am not convinced that double blind, I could tell them appart.
At a matching of only +/-1db - they were distinctly different - and easily seperated
In terms of how loud they sounded - with either matching option, they all sounded like they were the same loudness - there was no discernible difference in loudness.
The three components in the audio chain, that are the least linear, and therefore have the most impact on the "character" or "Voicing" of what we hear, are the microphone, the cartridge (if talking vinyl), and the speakers.
It is very valuable as an individual to do these kind of tests, and become aware of the limits of our hearing acuity - once you truly realise this (!!!) - then you can start to ignore (or weight them more lightly in your evaluations) a whole category of measurements, in the knowledge that although they can and do have an impact, in the overall scheme of things, they may not be all that important!!