speaker and hearing test.

[struth]

http://sneezl.com/quick-speaker-frequency-response-test/

only tried it on my creative pc speakers and I could hear from 40 hz to 11khz on them. will give it a go on main system tomorrow.

[alphaGT]

I can run it through my blue tooth receiver, straight from my computer here. (iPad), I'm not sure what effect that will have? If it will limit the results? You'd think the gear would outperform my ears? WAV files played this way sound pretty good, not as good as my vinyl system, but still not bad at all. Worth a try. Good find on this website!

[struth]

Hoping to power up pc downstairs today and try it through my full range speakers.. my old ears will be a factor but will be interested to see if i can hear below 40hz or above 11khz with them and s tweeters.or is that the limit of my hearing?

[Reffc]

There's a lot of twaddle in that report Grant. For example "Most human hearing happens in the middle of this range, between 1500Hz and 4500Hz"

They need to get their facts straight! The most sensitive part of our hearing is between 800Hz and 5KHz, but MOST of the music we hear is (surprisingly) in the range 200Hz to 5500Hz. Most Orchestras for example have few, if any, instruments that extend well beyond this bar some percussion. Piccolo and triangle being up there perhaps, albeit electronic music sources go higher and of course overtones exist well above fundamentals.

This annoys me:

"Better speakers are typically more expensive due to the costs of materials, manufacturing intricacies, and brand hype" Errrr....better speakers also take a hell of a lot of R&D which costs money, detailed design, and final assembly methods are sometimes complex and expensive, so they've left out a good deal of the final cost consideration, including marketing costs which are real and necessary.


They also haven't given advice on listening volume because things only "sound even from bottom to top" when they get quite loud due to the F-M effect, and it is entirely expected that at lower volumes, everyone taking this "test" will hear reduced volumes at lower and upper frequencies.

Poorly thought out, poorly explained.

They have left out a few more references which I give here for interest:

32.7Hz: Lowest "C" on standard Piano keyboard

33Hz: Lowest C1 on 5 string Double Bass

41Hz: Lowest E1 note of Electric Rythmn (bass) Guitar or 4 string Double Bass

65Hz: Lowest Cello note

110Hz : Lowest deep tone snare drum

130Hz: Lowest Viola note

261.6: Middle C (Piano)

1046.5: C6 or "High C" being the highest female voice note. Whilst one or two signers (Elena Souliotis for example) could over reach C6, this is the normally recognised threshold so those thinking that they're hearing lower treble and associating high female vocals at several KHz are mistaken. Having said that, the range for human voice intelligibility is recognised for speech as from 500Hz to (oddly) 2KHz.

5-9KHz: small percussion fundamentals and some overtones.

Most of what we hear above 9KHz are overtones with very few fundamentals, so really, the chase for 20KHz flat is a pointless exercise as far as most musical enjoyment goes. Gilbert Briggs recognised this and also that much of the unpleasantness in loudspeaker reproduction was more down to intermodulation distortion clearly audible in upper registers as odd order harmonic distortion.

What therefore matters MORE than outright frequency response above 10KHz is to keep intermodulation distortion as low as is possible, and whilst some of this can be due to speaker design, a lot is generated by the source or amplifier, particularly where analogue sources are. Intermodulation distortion deserves a topic in its own right though so I wont elaborate any more on this thread!

[struth]

Wasnt really talking about the article Paul but I agree with you. It was more the test as some folk might find it interesting to see what they really can hear before they chase equipment with specs that they are unlikely to be hearing anyways.
a bit of fun too.:)

[Reffc]

;)

[struth]

Well Ive tried it on the main system...I heard it from 20hz this time showing as i suspected that the creative labs only start at 40hz. oft the ccase....but up top i lost it at 11k again so thats the top of my hearing these days i guess...not surprising as my hearing is not what it was and have tinitus etc.... at least i know now

[Oldpinkman]

I knew someone else would have started a thread. I'm on the Android, so haven't tried the test grant links to. My range surprised me at 25hz to 18khz. Like grant, I suspect the lower limit was the system (mission 70s). The upper limit surprised me. I was expecting 14khz. In fact that particular test stepped to 20khz next. I was going to blame the speakers but the dog could clearly hear it.

I only found the tests because my dog whistle packed up. There was a YouTube ad video for a silent whistle - which I couldn't hear. Neither could the dog! Right!

[usernam]

I don't really worry about my hearing.
I just use real life as a comparison point and evaluate my gear as that base reference.
After all if you're going deaf there's not much can be done, just enjoy the music, as best as you're able.

[Oldpinkman]

Sure

I wanted the bloody dogs to come back when I call them though. 2 German Shepherds loose on a walk through the woods needs an owner in control!!

Which is how I found the tests. Quite chuffed to be hearing 18Khz though at 54.

[struth]

18 khz at 54 is impressive. Doubt mine was anywhere near mostly due to industrial damage. Still i hear enough to enjoy it and maybe what i cant hear doesnt matter too much to the tunes

[Audio Advent]

How does a frequency sweep work with youtube's AAC 126kps?

According to this web page http://tonerack.com/analysis-of-mp3-vs-aac-which-is-better-quality/


Comparing the graphs, you can see that the AAC codec is more aggressive with its low pass filter, which brick walls a touch above 16kHz, while the mp3 codec tails off less aggressively.

So.. I hear from about the 16kHz frequencies, a descending tone... is this the filters in the AAC doing something or is it a difference tone or what?

Still other than the pointlessness of it being a youtube video, not even in HD video's 196kHz AAC (err.. DUH !), it's interesting how many peaks and troughs I hear, most pronounced in the bass. I have flutter echo in my rooms though - concrete flat and all that.

[Stratmangler]

2 German Shepherds loose on a walk through the woods needs an owner in control!!

Isn't it about time you became pack leader?