Can anyone really hear...

[sqlsavior]

ANYTIME you transfer something from one media to another, the copy is not going to be "perfect"--can be damned close these days, but NEVER "perfect". I don't buy into the concept that "lossless" is 100% truly lossless. Even the "digital junkies" debate interface speed/accuracy, clocking/syncing, jitter, and error-correction.

No, digital files are easily copied from one medium to another, such as from your CD, to your computer, perfectly. You are conflating an adjective naming size compression which nevertheless retains all of the information, with irregularities during playback. Not the same thing.

 

[sKiZo]

the highs just leave a sense of "presence" that you don't really notice, until it is not there.

Call for reinforcements!! <G>

People keep forgetting about the work inaudible harmonics can do to enhance what you CAN hear. I imagine even Steven Hawking had problems with understanding psycho-acoustics ...

 

[Hawkeye83]

Not going to pretend I know WHY, but my CD @ 96 sounds better than streaming @ 48 into the same DAC. Both sound darn good though!!!

As far as hearing above 20 khz, I didn't think it mattered until I got my super tweeters, which go up to 90 khz...all I can say is my speakers sound way better with the super tweeters turned on!

 

[Quadman2]

Personally, no.

Many claim they have the ability of to discern upper ranges close to what a bat can hear. I think these are batty POV's, but you never know.

Q

 

[musichal]

I'm with sKiZo on the harmonics thing. Frequencies higher than I actually hear, if missing, boosted or (especially) unbalanced L&R are sometimes noticeable to me, and their harmonics within my range are, I believe, the reason for it.

 

[cheapo_eddy]

I use a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD to rip vinyl to PC. It features RCA line in, and Phono in. It operates at 24/96. Sounds indistinguishable from vinyl.

My new USB X-Fi "ProStudio" (ha ha ha) arrived from Amazon day before yesterday.

After some struggle to get a signal into and out of the cheap little thing, I discovered that it only does the 96 kHz sample rate on line level input. Mag phono is limited to 48 kHz, for some reason. I can live with that because I like my little phono preamp.

The output signal isn't as strong as the previous device, but cranked to the stop it seems to give a decent recording level in Audacity, with no chance of clipping.

Very noticeably more pleasant sounding. Indistinguishable from listening directly to the vinyl, unlike the Lexicon, which has a sort of hard-edged "digital" quality.

I'm tickled pink thus far, even despite the crappy user interface that seems to be mandatory with Creative products. Well worth double the sixty bucks I paid.

 

[cheapo_eddy]

That's a primary reason why sample rates like 96khz exist: to improve digital signal processing.

I seem to have just confirmed that. My new cheap SB X-Fi w/ 96kHz line-in sampling (which real audiophiles may laugh at) that just arrived from Amazon blows the old Lexicon out of the water, recording quality-wise.

 

[cheapo_eddy]

I'm with sKiZo on the harmonics thing. Frequencies higher than I actually hear, if missing, boosted or (especially) unbalanced L&R are sometimes noticeable to me, and their harmonics within my range are, I believe, the reason for it.

The new, dirt-cheap SB X-Fi USB that I plugged in a couple of days ago seems to corroborate your theory to a surprisingly noticeable degree.

 

[Hawkeye83]

Personally, no.

Many claim they have the ability of to discern upper ranges close to what a bat can hear. I think this is batty POV's, but you never know.

Q

I would have thought so too until I got my super tweeters. Definitely makes a difference. I'm not saying I can HEAR above 20 khz (likely much less) but either they are producing harmonics in the range I CAN hear, or something besides my ears is perceiving those high frequencies. It's somewhat subtle...yet...NOT. Really hard to explain. Anyone is welcome to come hear.

 

[Quadman2]

I would have thought so too until I got my super tweeters. Definitely makes a difference. I'm not saying I can HEAR above 20 khz (likely much less) but either they are producing harmonics in the range I CAN hear, or something besides my ears is perceiving those high frequencies. It's somewhat subtle...yet...NOT. Really hard to explain. Anyone is welcome to come hear.

On the fence with the ability to feel/sense the difference with the upper range of sound that most humans can detect.

There is so much in the field of sound, and the other senses as well, that there may well be some among the human species who have abnormal hearing abilities.
To a degree these abilities can be empirically tested/measured. For example, I have read that people in isolated regions of the world have far greater sensitivity to sound than those who live in heavily populated, noisy environments.

In the way of controlled production of sound, the military has experimented, using extreme amplitude and certain frequencies as weapons. These sounds ARE noticeable in a painful way!

As I initially open ended shared..."you never know?"

 

[ev13wt]

You won't hear the difference if everything is perfect.
It will probably sound different, because nothing is perfect.

It's up to you to decide what flavor you like.

 

[Quadman2]

You won't hear the difference if everything is perfect.
It will probably sound different, because nothing is perfect.

It's up to you to decide what flavor you like.

They call this "flavour"...subjectivity?

Q

 

[Mystic]

I am not able, under any circumstances or @ any "genre" of music, to hear the difference(s).

 

[Quadman2]

I am not able, under any circumstances or @ any "genre" of music, to hear the difference(s).

You are in great company, Mys. Beetovan had his problems as well, eh?

I jest. Have a great day of listening.

Q

 

[Lossless]

I seem to be able to hear the difference between 48kHz MQA sample rate vs 96kHz MQA sample rate. I don't know if it's because of MQA encoding or the Meridian DAC decoding 24bit/192kHz.
The 96kHz seems to contain more detail, especially listening to solo piano music. The music doesn't seem to have that "ringing digital sound" is the best way I can really describe it. The soundstage seems more defined also.