Shootout - Superb Measuring cheap DAC against hi-end DAC - measuring tool - the "ears"

[Blumlein 88]

Don't know how the sensitivity compares with the one in the video, but most smart phones have accelerometer chips in them. 3 axis. They'll pick up foot falls on a sturdy table, rack or counter top.

At least some damping measures can be shown to work with them. I tried it on a small box filled with sand. The top shelf didn't quite touch the sides and floats upon the sand. It both dampened vibrations in the shelf and reduced floor born vibrations on the shelf as measured by the phone.

What didn't show was that reducing those vibrations on the shelf altered or cleaned up the analog output of gear. Exceptions being turntables of course.

There are various apps for directly reading your phones accelerometers. One off the top of my head is the Physics Tool Box for Android phones. It and many others will graph the output over several seconds or even log it for you.

 

[watchnerd]

If I put a vibrator against the 6922 tubes in my tube phono stage, it makes a pretty weird set of noises.

Then again, it's sitting on an Ikea Kallax, not a fancy rack, so maybe that's the issue.

 

[scott wurcer]

If I put a vibrator against the 6922 tubes in my tube phono stage, it makes a pretty weird set of noises.

I remember at 10yr old or so going into a bottom drawer in the kitchen and finding a vibrator I asked my mother what is this for.

 

[watchnerd]

I remember at 10yr old or so going into a bottom drawer in the kitchen and finding a vibrator I asked my mother what is this for.

The kitchen is an odd place to keep a tool used to test vacuum tube microphony.

 

[scott wurcer]

The kitchen is an odd place to keep a tool used to test vacuum tube microphony.

Well my father kept swapping video output tubes in our first color TV trying to find that special balance.

 

[watchnerd]

Well my father kept swapping video output tubes in our first color TV trying to find that special balance.

Color TV tube rolling!

 

[zanzibar]

You should do it yourself and then let us know. It's boring to be lectured at length with the same condescending "blind test" requirement blather.

I know after many years of doing it and I don't need to do any more testing. I don't care who does or doesn't.

 

[BDWoody]

You should do it yourself and then let us know. It's boring to be lectured at length with the same condescending "blind test" requirement blather.

I know after many years of doing it and I don't need to do any more testing. I don't care who does or doesn't.

I will start doing more subjective testing of vibrators and racks...
That could be fun...

 

[zanzibar]

I will start doing more subjective testing of vibrators and racks...
That could be fun...

Racks are all over the map.
But ah, yeah man, about the vibrators.... TMI

 

[scott wurcer]

You should do it yourself and then let us know. It's boring to be lectured at length with the same condescending "blind test" requirement blather.

I know after many years of doing it and I don't need to do any more testing. I don't care who does or doesn't.

This is the classic response sometimes even used by folks in the scientific community (who should know better) with audio as a side business.

 

[MSNWatch]

You should do it yourself and then let us know. It's boring to be lectured at length with the same condescending "blind test" requirement blather.

I know after many years of doing it and I don't need to do any more testing. I don't care who does or doesn't.

Bet you wouldn’t want to have your medicines approved by the FDA based on anecdotal testing rather than double blind placebo controlled trials.

 

[snapcrackle]

You should do it yourself and then let us know. It's boring to be lectured at length with the same condescending "blind test" requirement blather.

I know after many years of doing it and I don't need to do any more testing. I don't care who does or doesn't.

ZZ - I think ASR get the idea from you and I that we reliably 'perceive' to hear obvious differences with support furniture (my audible revelation happened by chance, I wasn't even looking out for it) - so it's really up to the ASR community whether they want to plonk their gear on Ikea furniture or not.

Me (and you) however - will not be doing that .

 

[MediumRare]

ZZ - I think ASR get the idea from you and I that we reliably 'perceive' to hear obvious differences with support furniture (my audible revelation happened by chance, I wasn't even looking out for it) - so it's really up to the ASR community whether they want to plonk their gear on Ikea furniture or not.

Me (and you) however - will not be doing that .

All I am asking for is for you to run REW FR and distortion on your equipment (with and without the stands). Just show us what you are hearing. It doesn't have to be level-matched or with a calibrated microphone; any difference will be obvious. Data is persuasive. I expect it will take you max 30 minutes.

 

[snapcrackle]

All I am asking for is for you to run REW FR and distortion on your equipment (with and without the stands). Just show us what you are hearing. It doesn't have to be level-matched or with a calibrated microphone; any difference will be obvious. Data is persuasive. I expect it will take you max 30 minutes.

I would surely oblige - but I haven't got a clue how to do this! It would be good to get a reason behind the phenomenon (please, no-one respond with: the phenomenon is expectation bias, audiophoolititus, or any other jibe - I found out my situation by accident).

 

[scott wurcer]

All I am asking for is for you to run REW FR and distortion on your equipment (with and without the stands).

Unfortunately sampling a free sound field to a high level of repeatability after physical changes is almost impossible, a person 3' from the mic moving a couple of feet one way or another could make large changes in the sound field. You are essentially asking for something that the perps here could not do properly.

 

[MediumRare]

Unfortunately sampling a free sound field to a high level of repeatability after physical changes is almost impossible, a person 3' from the mic moving a couple of feet one way or another could make large changes in the sound field. You are essentially asking for something that the perps here could not do properly.

I don't see why that is so. Many of us use REW to measure our rooms using pink noise and get highly repeatable results. How is this any different? Set the delay to 5 seconds and leave the room.

 

[scott wurcer]

I don't see why that is so. Many of us use REW to measure our rooms using pink noise and get highly repeatable results. How is this any different? Set the delay to 5 seconds and leave the room.

I'm talking about evaluating the freefield stereo image not measuring a speaker. You are asking someone to take down their setup and set it up again on new stands without changing anything in the environment except the vibration isolation. Dick Burwen did an editorial on some of the difficulties.