I discovered something very interesting about digital vs vinyl.

[FrantzM]

I took both of those files, inverted the polarity of one of them, and then mixed them together.

This was the result.

(Complete silence proves there was absolutely no difference between the files.)

Perhaps if I had used an audio chain with blacker backgrounds... I might have heard .... something.

 

[Guermantes]

@guitar sam, Here are the first clips you posted (Lady Writer), spectrums compared with DeltaWave (thanks @pkane):

So I converted the FLAC (0) file to FLAC (4) myself using iZotope RX6 and got a bit-perfect match at 16 bits:

So something in your conversion has caused aliasing. Check your RX chain.

 

[LTig]

Perhaps if I had used an audio chain with blacker backgrounds... I might have heard .... something.

"Blackgrounds", a new BS shortcut ...

 

[Guermantes]

You can clearly see the aliasing in the comparison spectrogram plot.

Your conversion (FLAC 0 to 4):

My conversion (FLAC 0 to 4):

 

[voodooless]

We’re repeating ourselves..

 

[Joachim Herbert]

guitar sam here and i'm using izotope rx5 to convert...

Would you mind sharing the settings used with RX5?

 

[RayDunzl]

RMS of the difference of spectra: –385dB

Hmm...

Shoutometer says that's the difference between someone shouting at you from a meter, and another equivalent shouter shouting at you 2,000 light years from home.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Hmm...

Shoutometer says that's the difference between someone shouting at you from a meter, and another equivalent shouter shouting at you 2,000 light years from home.

Real audiophiles can hear faster than the speed of light.

 

[guitar sam]

guitar sam here and i'm quite aware that flac 16/44 at 0 compression is the same as flac compression level 4 however in a/b testing i can pick out the flac 4 every time because it's like comparing mono to stereo just like listening to a remastered vinyl album cut from a digital copy of the master will have mono depth perception which is nothing more than a vinyl cd and vinyl cut directly from the reel to reel master will have stereo depth perception which is why vinyl made a big comeback because teenagers started listening to there parents old vinyl record and when the record companies started pressing vinyl again they made sure that the new vinyl had mono depth perception to remove the hypersonic effect which made your brain release dopomine and you no longer needed prozac. it's only a conspiracy until you can prove it. my settings for izotope rx5/rx7 are comercial flac at 16/44 compression level 0 to level 4 + i use the time & pitch filter to remove the dynamic compression from digital audio which increases the dynamic range along with the sound quality.

 

[danadam]

RMS of the difference of spectra: –385dB

I think it's fair to say that the two audio streams are as close as it gets

@pkane Out of curiosity, shouldn't that be "−inf" for identical files?

 

[voodooless]

@pkane Out of curiosity, shouldn't that be "−inf" for identical files?

384 dB is the dynamic range of a 64 bit integer, so that is probably where it comes from.

But indeed these files are identical in contrary to the first set. I don't even need any advanced audio software to prove that:

MD5 (04 - it's oh so quiet - Björk (0).wav) = eed2b79435ea7a72b1babbaa029560b5
MD5 (04 - it's oh so quiet - björk (4).wav) = eed2b79435ea7a72b1babbaa029560b5

 

[pkane]

@pkane Out of curiosity, shouldn't that be "−inf" for identical files?

Yes. But he result is displayed for the the limit of accuracy of internal calculations, done in double-precision floating point.

 

[voodooless]

Yes. But he result is displayed for the the limit of accuracy of internal calculations, done in double-precision floating point.

But a 32 bit floating point already has a dynamic range of 1540 dB

 

[andreasmaaan]

guitar sam here and i'm quite aware that flac 16/44 at 0 compression is the same as flac compression level 4 however in a/b testing i can pick out the flac 4 every time because it's like comparing mono to stereo just like listening to a remastered vinyl album cut from a digital copy of the master will have mono depth perception which is nothing more than a vinyl cd and vinyl cut directly from the reel to reel master will have stereo depth perception which is why vinyl made a big comeback because teenagers started listening to there parents old vinyl record and when the record companies started pressing vinyl again they made sure that the new vinyl had mono depth perception to remove the hypersonic effect which made your brain release dopomine and you no longer needed prozac. it's only a conspiracy until you can prove it. my settings for izotope rx5/rx7 are comercial flac at 16/44 compression level 0 to level 4 + i use the time & pitch filter to remove the dynamic compression from digital audio which increases the dynamic range along with the sound quality.

Very cute how you introduce yourself as "guitar sam" at the beginning of each post.

However, we have already "proved it". The two tracks that you believe you're hearing a difference between are absolutely identical down to at least -385dB (limit of calculation), which is almost 300dB below the absolute threshold of audibility for humans.

It literally does not matter what your software is or what your settings are; the files are identical. Case closed.

Goodbye

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Sgt. Ear Ache here. I like toast.

 

[voodooless]

The two tracks that you believe you're hearing a difference between are absolutely identical down to at least -385dB

No, these files are exactly the same. Don't give them any leeway here..

 

[Pluto]

It literally does not matter what your software is or what your settings are; the files are identical

“There is clearly some massive fraud taking place here.”

 

[Pluto]

my settings for izotope rx5/rx7 are comercial flac at 16/44 compression level 0 to level 4 + i use the time & pitch filter to remove the dynamic compression from digital audio which increases the dynamic range along with the sound quality.

This is the audio equivalent of giving an 8 year old a chainsaw to play with.

 

[Frank Dernie]

This is the audio equivalent of giving an 8 year old a chainsaw to play with.

 

[Pluto]

Izotope RX is a set of highly innovative, very powerful but complex, tools that can be commercial lifesavers. I bought a copy a couple of years ago (c. £1k) that paid for itself in just one job as I was able to rescue the audio from an unrepeatable shoot which, otherwise, might have been a commercial disaster for the parties involved. I was able to restore the audio to usability. NB, not magnificent hi-fi, usable.

Needless to say, a toolkit this powerful gives you the ability to truly ruin otherwise decent sound.