From 2013 onward, I began a systematic survey of FFT measurements published by some German Hi-Fi magazines. Those magazines belong to a publisher which runs its own laboratory, thus ensuring consistency in the measurement method.
At that time, I was driven by sheer curiosity. My goal was to establish an objective hierarchy among digital sources the best I could. Though informative FFT-based analysis is to assess the behavior of a particular device, it was indeed practically impossible to compare multiple devices between them. In time, there were no such thing as Audiosciencereview and I was left with no other choice to do my homework the old way. I then decided to compute manually the total harmonic distortion over the first significant harmonics of each device read on the FFT in order to rank the digital sources tested by the aforementioned magazines.
Obviously, the result of this work is by no mean a complete nor even sufficient way of assessing the performances of digital devices. Neither is this survey a product of absolute accuracy. The best I could do is a +/- 1 dB accuracy for each harmonics. Nevertheless, I think that this survey as been useful for me to have a glimpse over the evolution of digital techniques for home audio over a 30 years span and to make interesting observations (more of that latter).
You will find below the pdf files of two tables translated in English from their respective French originals. The first table lists a total of 812 devices by chronological order. In the second table, these devices are ranked by the level of their respective THD.
For the French speakers among you, here is a link towards a publication of the original French tables : https://cabasse.vraiforum.com/t6078-40-annees-de-mesures-de-distorsions-de-sources-numeriques.htm
In the following message, you will find the complete list of all devices which are part of this survey.
03/25/2024 updated files (version 15f, same as 15e with new information but typos corrected):
At that time, I was driven by sheer curiosity. My goal was to establish an objective hierarchy among digital sources the best I could. Though informative FFT-based analysis is to assess the behavior of a particular device, it was indeed practically impossible to compare multiple devices between them. In time, there were no such thing as Audiosciencereview and I was left with no other choice to do my homework the old way. I then decided to compute manually the total harmonic distortion over the first significant harmonics of each device read on the FFT in order to rank the digital sources tested by the aforementioned magazines.
Obviously, the result of this work is by no mean a complete nor even sufficient way of assessing the performances of digital devices. Neither is this survey a product of absolute accuracy. The best I could do is a +/- 1 dB accuracy for each harmonics. Nevertheless, I think that this survey as been useful for me to have a glimpse over the evolution of digital techniques for home audio over a 30 years span and to make interesting observations (more of that latter).
You will find below the pdf files of two tables translated in English from their respective French originals. The first table lists a total of 812 devices by chronological order. In the second table, these devices are ranked by the level of their respective THD.
For the French speakers among you, here is a link towards a publication of the original French tables : https://cabasse.vraiforum.com/t6078-40-annees-de-mesures-de-distorsions-de-sources-numeriques.htm
In the following message, you will find the complete list of all devices which are part of this survey.
03/25/2024 updated files (version 15f, same as 15e with new information but typos corrected):
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