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Old 8th Sep 2020, 7:21 pm   #1861
knobtwiddler
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: London, UK.
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrimJosef View Post
It's been reported that in blind tests people (on average) actually preferred the sound of music which had had a little 2nd harmonic added !
Although this is the generally held belief, it doesn't explain people's penchant for tape saturation, which is mainly 3rd harmonic. There's even a digital plug-in designed to emulate the characteristics of Studer reel machines (i doubt the original designers would be happy to know the foibles of their machines have been digitally emulated). Nor would it explain the fascination (incredible prices in some cases) for rare transformers (exclusively 3rd harmonic). I don't see much wrong with a little 2nd or 3rd - upper order odd harmonics generating IMD are what you want to worry about.

Watching a speaker distort on an FFT fed from a test mic can be an enlightening experience. The distortion comes on radically and abruptly at all harmonics, with little warning. If a system sounds clean, but edgy on transients, this could be a likely culprit.
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