How good are your ears?

**mbuchman** · 03-31-2005, 12:45 AM

This was posted at soundillusions.net a few days ago or so, but I finally got around to try it out, and thought I would share it with you guys too.

http://www.klippel.de/aura/instructions.html

Basically, you take a test to see if you can hear distortion or not. Should be good for everyone who says "Oh, I can definately tell the difference between a 192kbps MP3 and a 320kbps file!" True, not exactly the same deal here, but still sorta related.

Here is how I did...
music pop: -18dB (this is the first test)
music pop induct only: -24dB
music pop bl only: -12dB
music vocals: 0dB
terz: -30dB
twotone 90hz 800hz: -30dB
twotone 300hz 800hz: -15dB

I used Sony MDR-V600 headphones, which are great to some, and less than desireable to others. I have heard the quality of the earphones dont help or hurt really, but oh well.

Matt

Note to mods:
This might be too OT for this section, but I figure the people in this section would appreciate it the most, being it would be assumed these are the only people who appreciate good quality music (hence the car audio section). If mods think it should be somewhere else, feel free to move it, and sorry for the inconvenience

**Vchat20** · 03-31-2005, 02:16 AM

i did the 6 inch driver pop music test and i dont think i did too bad albeit i had to switch between my pos cambridge soundworks speakers and my headphones a few times to catch the distortion. i hit the -36db range.

**Nic** · 03-31-2005, 02:25 AM

i got -24dB horah!

**Enforcer** · 03-31-2005, 03:28 AM

pardon?

**jackjohnson24** · 03-31-2005, 03:28 AM

i dont get it, i took the test, it eventually said test is over. Now how in the hell do you interpret how you did. I clicked on the little icon beside each of the categories. For instance the first one, music pop. It takes me to a bar graph but doesnt say which one i fall under. Im confused lol.

The test stopped me at -15db, i guess i suck lol.

**Vchat20** · 03-31-2005, 03:37 AM

from my guess, the lower db you managed to hit, the better. for example, i would have done better than Nic by that. but im not 100% sure. anyone mind correcting me?

**jackjohnson24** · 03-31-2005, 03:58 AM

Yeah, homepage on that site, it says, " so how far down can you go". So from that my understanding is the farther down you go, the better you did.

So yeah, you did better than nic. If i understand this think correctly

Tried the test again, made it down to -24db this time. I dont know how in the hell you managed a -36, especially on your first go around. at like -15db, both samples sound almost identical, you must have hawk ears.

**Vchat20** · 03-31-2005, 04:26 AM

when i started hitting below 15db i had to turn up the volume to hear the distortion a bit better. around the 30db mark it became so hard to hear i just started guessing till i failed a spot, then it went back up and i was able to determine it better again.

what really amazes me though is that i dont consider myself a major audiophile. true, i can tell the difference between 128kbps and 192kbps. but anything higher it is very hard to notice a difference to the point i am very content with ripping my cd's at a simple 192kbps cbr mp3 format.

**jackjohnson24** · 03-31-2005, 04:57 AM

Yeah, ppl in my house are asleep, so i had the volume pretty low where only i could hear it sitting in front of my pc. Im content to with 192kbs mp3s. Maybe once i upgrade my speakers in my car and add my sub i'll be able to, but for now 192kbs is good for me. I find it funny when the hardcore guys just trip off people who listen to mp3s, saying that they cant listen to it b/c it sounds too bad lol.

After a certain point, your just being picky if you wont listen to lets say a nicely encode mp3 etc. I think i did a little bit above average, so i think im satisfied with my score for now.