Making sense of Amir's measurements

[pma]

Why not play with an actual speaker with some actual sounds and measure with a microphone?

Because in such arrangement (speaker) you mostly hear mechanical imperfections and noises of the electro-acoustic transducer rather than true non-linear distortion. It is more correct to use good headphones and to add non-linear distortion mathematically.

 

[ernestcarl]

Because in such arrangement (speaker) you mostly hear mechanical imperfections and noises of the electro-acoustic transducer rather than true non-linear distortion. It is more correct to use good headphones and to add non-linear distortion mathematically.

Yes, that may well be correct. But I induced different types of clipping -- produced from the DAC itself (even at low volumes) and from driver amp by turning the gain knob up too high. Both produced higher order harmonics. That was just merely a quick example that came to mind.