disco_g OP t1_j65sbr8 wrote on January 27, 2023 at 10:26 PM

Reply to comment by D00M98 in These are not the same by disco_g

Every single aspect of how an audio device sounds can be measured, it's just that not all those aspects are measured or published. They are instead oversimplified into marketing statistics that are easier to understand (and hide inconsistencies).

For example, I was using a very nice sounding audio recorder (Sound Devices MixPre 10II) to measure the performance of a mic preamp I had built, using a loopback with REW. It showed unexpected distortion in the sub bass. I measured again with the mic pre out of the loop and the rise in distortion was still there. I sent my graphs to Sound Devices asking if my recorder was broken, but they confirmed my results. The device was in spec (and sounds "good"), but it has significantly more distortion in the sub bass than most modern audio interfaces. So while it has excellent THD spec, that is not telling the whole story.

hyde0000 t1_j65zlg9 wrote on January 27, 2023 at 11:16 PM

Yeah I don't know that much about dac but say headphone for example. People look at response graphs which shows how much amplitude at this frequency.

So it's like saying Honda driving at 40 miles/hour measures the same as Porsche driving at 40 miles/hour, and the same when both car are driving at 60 miles/hour. Therefore Honda and Porsche performs the same lol.

And as you said the response graph people read are the oversimplified version of a very complex matter that needs much more other measurements to compare. Like how fast does it react to change in load, how well does it handle complex signals.... Etc.

But yeah I'd imagine dac is probably similar in that regard.