On Sun, 22 Jan 2017 02:30:47 -0800 (PST), Phil Allison
wrote:

Johan Helsingius wrote:



I once did a blind listening test on an audiophile forum to
see if people could hear a difference between "hi-res" and CD.
As an outlier test, I threw in a 256K mp3 file (decoded to
FLAC, so people couldn't tell from the file format what it
was). The mp3 file came out as the second most preferred of
all 9 alternatives - the "winner" was the 16/44.1 file that
I had increased the volume by 1 dB on...



** That is a really worthless test methodology.

About 3 decades ago, I came up with a simple and really powerful one that avoided the horrible problems inherent in all A then B or ABX type tests.

Ocne set up, the test takes only a few seconds before the result is clear and convincing.

Unless your test operates in a similar way, it has no credibility with or impact on any listener. The principle is that of INSTANT change-over, while listening in stereo, in your home to your best loved tracks.

Read about it he

http://sound.whsites.net/absw.htm


Got any questions - I'm right here, every day.



.... Phil



I find instant switchover causes problems, particularly in the bass
end. If the two systems happen to have opposite phase, there will be
an apparent sound change when switching over, even though the sound is
actually the same. I like to have about half a second of dead air to
wipe the phase memory. That way you only hear the actual differences,
not the artificial transient of the phase shift.

d