Proof that DACs CAN make a difference! - Blind ABX Testing

GoldenSound takes a look at blind testing and whether source gear even makes any difference in the first place!

How to read the new measurements:

The 10 stages of headphone measurements

00:00 - Intro
02:02 - Why do we need blind tests?
03:49 - Problems with blind testing
08:01 - Designing our test
14:18 - Results
14:45 - Results Discussion
20:11 - Wrap up

[stevetech]

i trick my brain every day convincing myself that i like people

[jakee]

I appreciate the skipping timestamp. Shows your respect your audiences time. In an age of clickbait and filler that is very appreciated. Little thing but still. I decided to watch straight though because of that.

[JiajuChen]

I am literally amazed. I didn’t know there are serious reviewers like you who uses ABX test device just for regular DAC reviews. I am impressed.

[hartyewh]

I spent a week comparing high-end speaker cables and a few very basic ones and for 5 days I believed I heard differences until a friend helped to ABX and mysteriously the differences went away. I wouldn't believe any individual on such specific claims without proven ABX since I didn't believe to hear anything, thought it's all bs and still a thick heavy cable sounded bassier and a thin silver cable more bright😂

[lbunjes]

Great work. After watching this, and seeing that you were surprised to learn that you can hear 20k+ I wanted to see if I can as well. I've always noticed that I hear things other people do not, such as an induction burner on high...I did a little test and found that I can hear 19k+ for sure and I'm 40 years old. I've always had super sensitive hearing and cool to see that that's still true.

[GingerDrums]

I'm a mastering engineer and listen to audio in a measured room on a Kii Three rig. Many of my peers in the industry cannot reliably differentiate between a 320kbps .MP3 and a 24bit .wav in ABX conditions on a world class monitoring rig... And I'd argue it doesn't matter at all. The content of the music, the ideas, the melodies and lyrics are what moves us, and much of the audiophile scene has more to do with people gaining a status identity which allows them to feel superior. Most equipment made in mid-pricerange is very low distortion and reliable, and even more so in the DAC market. An Audient soundcard for €100 can pass the audio through the converters more than 50 times before the phase inverten sum is audible. This means that it is almost mathematically perfect. When you pay more you might be getting a different EQ profile or "desirable" distortion. The additional harmonics can enhance some records... But this is something that can be achieved using any DAW using stock plugins. To wrap up: don't have fomo, enjoy your favourite audio files with whatever mainstream reputable brand that encourages you to enjoy as much music as possible.

Most mastering engineers like me cant hear over 18khz, I certainly cant hear over 16.6k. Content that high is not part of the musical range. Im highly sceptical that this content creator can hear above 20k, but taking his word then he is hearing things that most 5 year olds cannot hear.😊

[miguelbarrio]

I would also add the caveat that not everyone has enough listening skills to notice a difference. If we were to talk about wine, I don't think anyone would agree that being discriminating about wine tasting requires training. Same is true in audio.

[fahryst]

Your surprise and joy looks so geniune that I'm more happy that you are happy than the test is a success

[GailGrant-mo]

Wonderful work. Fascinating and informative. This kind of care and attention to detail - a deep concern for "getting it right" - is precisely what makes being an audiophile more of a kind of applied science rather than neurosis. As one who has been an audiophile for more the fifty years, I am very grateful.

Interesting video. Thanks for doing the testing. My practical take away from everything I've read about DACs and amps is that I simply get something that does not measure as broken, has the features I need, that I like the looks of and that is within my budget, and do not worry about any differences in sound. Since I can't hear anything above 13 kHz I will continue to ignore the question of reconstruction filters as somebody else's problem.

[tara]

Great video about importance of blind testing done well I would love to see more of the reviewers try the test too. It should help account for variations in hearing (like your excellent hearing)

[alantan]

Thanks for this video. It's fantastic that you approached this topic from a scientific perspective. I'm a former cognitive psychologist and well versed in the methodology used in psychological research studies. A couple of thoughts around running something like a psycho-acoustic study or any kind of scientifically sound research study. The number of trials is dependent on the statistical power that you are trying to achieve with the study. Something like 20 trials that you mentioned may or may not be sufficient since it's highly dependent on the effect size. Effect size represents the magnitude of the experimental effect. If the phenomenon is easy to detect then usually the # of subject and trials in the experiment can be low. When the effect size is small, you have to run substantially more subjects and trials. The # of participants, the # of stimuli, trial order of stimuli and the participants demographics (age, gender, etc) used all play a role in crafting a well designed experiment. Please keep making more of these videos!

[uglybob]

I have a few different DACs around the house and I can tell the difference between them but you, my friend, are a while different level completely ! Great video, thanks for sharing 🙂

[dsnydercnn]

I appreciate your thoroughness. I've suspected that advances in DAC performance over the last ten years were mainly due to improvements in oversampling and reconstruction filters. Your test seems to confirm that. What's left to compare is the analog section of high-SINAD DACs, but perhaps the science is settled there too. I understand the reasons why, but I'll admit to being a little disappointed that you ended up not actually using two different DACs in your ABX test. Finally, it seems that being unable to hear anything past 13 kHz is a blessing. 😂 Cheers!

[Malangsufi]

Well done! I knew from the first moment I read your work, as a reviewer, the standard that other reviewers will be judged as risen.

[reveyrie]

Big DAC trying to get us to spend $10, 000 on metal boxes again. nice try 🙄

[louisteerlinck]

My favorite aspect of this video is witnessing the great friendship you have. Headphones are awesome, but friendship is even better.

[chungang]

Cables look like snakes, just saying.

[stratelite]

Excellent video! These should be standard for all DAC/amp reviews. More of these please!

[chungang]

After getting a hearing test and my doc saying everything is normal for a 40 year old I decided to pamper myself with a new amp. So I went to a hifi shop and sat with 4 amps at the same table up to the 2000 dollar range, trying them all with the 800s, a headphone I know well. I knew what I was testing, was expecting to hear a difference and be blown away [and make a purchase]. I didn't hear any difference, really. What? One sounded like it might have a roll off in the treble, big whoop. Not exactly worth the money. For kicks the shop worker told me to try the Questyle CMA15, a 3000 dollar amp. Surely I would hear something. Nope. I tried a few headphones, can still hear a difference between them, and maybe that should be enough in this hobby. I felt bad for the shop, the workers looked pretty annoyed when I left.