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RE: Read his thesis why don't you?

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In Reply to: RE: Read his thesis why don't you? posted by 13th Duke of Wymbourne on May 26, 2025 at 13:31:05

I don't agree that this is the simplest explanation. To agree to this explanation is to then assume that nearly all recordings are deficient with regard to realistic sound quality. Is that likely? I think not.

A simple explanation following Occam's razor should not then open up a can of worms around the recordings.

For me the simplest explanation is that the most correct sounding amp must therefore be the one that is most free of audible distortions. The objective numbers are not so relevant.

IMO, believability in audio from the electronics is the absence of audible artifacts not necessarily measurable ones.

It also becomes clear to me that when a system makes most recordings sound grey and lifeless then it is not the recordings but the gear reproducing them...something is psychoacoustically off.

Follow Ups:

RE: Read his thesis why don't you? - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 13:38:06 05/28/25 (2)
Whether you disagree with the idea of SETs adding something, as you do, I don't think it strengthens your argument if you fail to see that as a simpler explanation. Audiophilia does tend towards the exotic and expensive and, perhaps, that extends to theories also. I noticed that you did not simply measure the harmonic content of real instruments but of 'rare violins'.

Anyway, back to the topic in hand. It seems Cheever took his aural harmonic generation creation data from Olsen. A copy of that book should arrive today...
- RE: Read his thesis why don't you? - morricab 12:22:15 06/01/25 (1)
  Read the Keith Howard experiment in Stereophile where he added different distortions to audio files. He found that NO added distortion sounded best but the least worst was alternating even and odd in an exponential decay. The worst was all odd harmonics, like most PP amps produce.
  
  You used to be able to download the code and play with it yourself. I did and came to essentially the same conclusion as Mr. Howard.
  - RE: Read his thesis why don't you? - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 16:31:15 06/01/25 (0)
    I enjoy all of Keith Howard's writings. IIRC, there is not a big difference between any of the patterns and he struggled to order them.
    There is a utility that allows you to add a desired amount of distortion see link. If I want to add a lot of low order distortion I simply play a record.
    As to Cheever, I obtained Olsen's text book referenced by DC and it contains the same graph but Olsen attributes it to someone else. I obtained that paper and though relevant it is not the source for that graph so more searching required. What I can say is that Cheever misinterprets that graph - it shows the level of a fundamental at which it's harmonics are detectable. They are not the absolute level of the harmonics as the author suggests! The next graph is probably the most important, similar data attributed to Olsen but that must come from a different book. I will seek it out to find how the testing was done.
    - https://distortaudio.org (Open in New Window)
    Edits: 06/01/25 06/02/25

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