linuxaudio.org

Gordon JC Pearce  sez:
>

quoted text
> On Tue, 2007-09-25 at 19:31 +0200, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

>

> > A nice variation on this theme occured years ago at an AES conference.

> > The speaker wanted to demonstrate that 'digital' sound was crap, by

> > using the familiar 'push down the extended arm' test. Test persons

> > listening to analog sound could easily resist, while they lost all

> > force when listening to a digital recording.

> >

> > What the speaker didn't know was that the PA system used to play the

> > tracks was fully digital...

>

> I once helped prepare the equipment for a double-blind test of speaker

> cables.  All the golden-eared audophiles picked out one cable as being

> far superior to the others, with better clarity and definition in the

> upper harmonics and tighter more defined bass or some such bollocks.

>

> I did have to buy my Mum a new extension lead for her lawnmower, though.

> Sixty feet of Black and Decker's finest, with Speakon plugs soldered to

> it.

>

> Gordon

That's pretty freaking funny.  Reminds me of the Penn and Teller where

they sell the diners in a trendy restaurant water from a garden hose

on the patio.  haha  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc  it's

really funny stuff; worth watching if you have a couple minutes.
Incidentally, I get my water from a mountain spring up the road (can't

do much better than that, eh?), although I *have* bought a bottle of

two of Evian in my day :)
As for the double blind audio test, I reckon you guys have all seen

the new AES journal by now (if not, go to your mailbox).  There is a

double-blind test where people were played DVD-A and SACD's, but some

of them were passed through an extra A/D/A stage at 16bit-44.1khz.

There was something like a 50% success rate in choosing the audio

source correctly.
Maybe it *is* all in my head...?
Although, I wonder if ear training has anything to do with it.  I'm

super dorky sometimes, and I used to mix multitrack projects to

different bit-depths/sample-rates and then try to train myself to hear

the differences between them.  hahaha, I figure most people don't do

that sort of thing...
~Maitland