I think I need to give up Hi-Fi

[Paul-H]

Ok first of of I must be honest, I worked in heavy industry and have as a result damaged hearing, I also have Tinitus and do not as a result posses those elusive golden ears, they are more like wooden ears and doing a simple audio test I struggle to hear anything above 14khz, but I still enjoy a nice sounding system.

I then found this on YouTube

https://youtu.be/D3dszOSQcqA

I cannot hear any difference between them, should I just give up as my hearing is so bad ?

Be honest how different are they.

Thanks for any honest input on this

Paul

[struth]

If they are good equipment you may well not hear much if any difference. 14k is decent hearing for people over 50 mine isn't as good as that.
Enjoy your music if your enjoying it. Any tinkering can be cosmetic or moving into different things like streaming etc.

[walpurgis]

Good amplifiers should in theory all sound the same. The only reason amplifiers vary is due to the things they don't get right. None are perfect!

[hifi_dave]

You don't need to give up Hi-Fi, because, as you say, you still enjoy a nice sounding system. Job done.

[Opti-cal]

Hi Paul,

Hmmm, a few factors to address here.

Firstly all I can hear from that clip is some fairly terrible dubstep (there is actually some I don't mind but this is not it) in a very poor room (acoustically). Also any recording from any stereo can sound bad even if it's done with a fancy recorder especially if acoustics etc are not addressed.

Secondly the clips are not perfectly volume matched (they are close to be fair) but the only difference I can hear is in bass output but as mentioned before that is difficult to appreciate due to the boomyness of the room (recording).

Lastly 14khz is not actually too bad and you're certainly not going to be able to ascertain if you've lost anything with those kind of tracks.

If I were you I would get some material you know we'll and has notable high end extension and possibly someone whom you know has good hearing and just basically compare if you are hearing the same thing.

I wouldn't put much faith in YouTube recordings of the techniques used to tell you the facts.

If you're using headphones the only changes I could detect were slight volume variations and bass output. If I listened really critically there were some small differences like a bit of 'presence'with the tubes, some 'slam'from the newer ss amp and some 'warmth'from the old ss. But tiny and not really that obvious, Plus there is some expectation bias as it tells you which amp is playing and when, if I hadn't known I probably lwouldn't even have noticed.

So on that evidence I would say don't worry too much, especially if you still enjoy your system. Plenty going on at 14khz and lower!

Hope that might help a bit.

Cheers

Chris

[struth]

i might add there isnt all that much going on above 14k.. so your not missing a lot, but you may well sense it, like you can with a super tweeter. i cant hear a supertweeter but can sense its presence

[Opti-cal]

i cant hear a supertweeter but can sense its presence

Completely agree, same goes for subs at the other end. I find there is 'presence' to be found above and below the so called limits of human hearing. I can never agree that there is not point in recording and playing 'information'which we cannot technically hear. Okay over sampling at 196k is probably a bit much though.

Sorry for slight thread deviation but these are my thoughts....

[Pharos]

When I was about 24 I could hear to 18k, and after industrial abuse of my ears from a big telecoms company, and successful litigation for the resulting hearing loss, my right ear only goes up to 5k.

Ironically with the gains from litigation I have bought an expensive pair of speakers which go to 50k, and even with the bad ear can hear a difference compared with my older speakers which only went up to 23k. Most musical information is below 5k.

Listening to those samples on my £20 PC speakers makes no sense at all, and IMO amplifiers are mostly so good that they can be virtually ignored as a factor in the chain.

Several factors have resulted in my becoming stagnant in Hi-Fi terms, the above losses, the ridiculous expenditure for small improvements, and what I see as the relative paucity of profound new art.

So I will probably not change with the objective of improvement, but will acquire a streaming set up to facilitate.

[walpurgis]

I'm deaf in one ear and daft in the other!

[Pigmy Pony]

The upper limit of my hearing is less than 10k, but my speakers' ability to go way beyond that won't be lost on me, it will still have an effect on lower frequencies. My advice: forget the YouTube clip and carry on loving what you love.