Possible to rank equipment based on what we actually hear and perceive?

[richard12511]

Perhaps the question could be rephrased: at what point does noise and distortion fall below the threshold of audibility?

The entire point of electronic measurement is to set a standard.https://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr/speech-intelligibility-demo

I'm curious what my previous Yamaha entry AVR was, as I wasn't able to hear any difference between it and a near SOTA Nord Hypex amp under blind conditions. Same thing with the other listeners.

If I had to guess, I'd say anything beyond -70dB or so is equivalent to my ears. If you can get to -70dB, you get 10/10 for distortion performance. After that I'd be looking to compare max output, ability to handle tough loads, frequency response(usually 10/10), fan noise, and price.

 

[MaxBuck]

My subjective ranking is that my equipment is best. The rest of you can only hope to match it.

 

[Chromatischism]

I'm curious what my previous Yamaha entry AVR was, as I wasn't able to hear any difference between it and a near SOTA Nord Hypex amp under blind conditions. Same thing with the other listeners.

What speaker was being used?

 

[richard12511]

What speaker was being used?

Infinity Beta 20 I believe.

 

[Chromatischism]

Infinity Beta 20 I believe.

Hmm they claim 8 ohms but I really doubt that.

 

[Jim Matthews]

I'm curious what my previous Yamaha entry AVR was, as I wasn't able to hear any difference between it and a near SOTA Nord Hypex amp under blind conditions. Same thing with the other listeners.

If I had to guess, I'd say anything beyond -70dB or so is equivalent to my ears. If you can get to -70dB, you get 10/10 for distortion performance. After that I'd be looking to compare max output, ability to handle tough loads, frequency response(usually 10/10), fan noise, and price.

I suspect that further waveform study (as started by Serge Smirnoff "Diffrogram") will bear on what we can't define as a good device, if the results can be reproduced and applied.

While it's clear that a device that tests better in SINAD ranking has a measurable improvement over lesser ranked gizmos it may just be a proxy for what we really notice in Transient distortions, particularly in the time domain.

I have always been suspicious of a new measurement that dismisses what was perfectly satisfying (like your Yammie AVR) due to escalating performance benchmarks.

 

[preload]

"Possible to rank equipment based on what we actually hear and perceive?"

Yes and for DACs, amps, and other SOTA devices the overwhelming majority are going to have identical "ranks." If you haven't already arrived at that conclusion yet, I'm saving you a whole bunch of time. You're welcome.