When auditioning different speakers I listen to a range of different types of music to hear how they sound (obviously). I also find it very useful to play a sine wave sweep too. Clicky
A sine wave sweep will show up any variations in the frequency response, phase changes and any other funny stuff that often occurs around the crossover much more clearly than just listening to music alone. Every time I hear a speaker that sounds pleasant with music they are always the ones that also perform well with a sine wave sweep and every speaker that sounds wrong with music are always the ones that perform badly with a sine wave sweep. It's a very useful tool when comparing speakers.
It's hard to describe what phase distortion sounds like but if you compare a few speakers with both music and a sine wave sweep you'll notice an unnatural sound that comes and goes at certain frequencies which sounds and feels very uncomfortable.
With music on its own you hear a mixed mish mash of lots of different frequencies all playing at the same time. Depending on what speakers you're using some of these frequencies are in phase while others are out of phase and all are at different and constantly varying volume levels which drown each other out to varying degrees. This can make it difficult to isolate any problems that the speaker has and you end up with the situation where you have an unnatural or irritating sound but you can't quite put your finger on exactly what's wrong with it.
With a sine wave sweep you can isolate each individual frequency one at a time and hear very clearly how a speaker sounds at this particular frequency. Using a sine wave sweep together with music will tell you much more about why a speaker sounds the way it does and what are its shortcomings are (that may not otherwise be immediately noticed with a quick listen when auditioning them in a shop) than just using music on it own to compare speakers.
While clarity, a flat frequency response, dynamic range, a good stereo image and the absence of clipping are all very important factors for sound quality, having it all in phase will help make speakers so sound much more pleasant and easy to listen too. It's makes such a huge difference to how enjoyable a speaker sounds and yet most audiophiles are too obsessed with worrying about the relatively insignificant cables and bit-rates they use with their massively phase distorted hifi systems to realise.
Phase distortion is more audible than variations in amplitude and yet it's completely ignored by most people so they end up disatisfied with the way their hifi sounds and waste lots of time and money trying all sorts of different solutions to fix it without understanding what the problem is to start with. Their instinct tells them that something is unnatural with the sound they're hearing but they don't know why.
When phase distortion is described on forums many people don't fully understand what effect it has on the sound. If people took the time to play a sine wave sweep as well as music through several speakers in close succession it would be immediately obvious what a big effect that changes in phase has on the sound.
Ok, rant over.
What are your thoughts on this?
A sine wave sweep will show up any variations in the frequency response, phase changes and any other funny stuff that often occurs around the crossover much more clearly than just listening to music alone. Every time I hear a speaker that sounds pleasant with music they are always the ones that also perform well with a sine wave sweep and every speaker that sounds wrong with music are always the ones that perform badly with a sine wave sweep. It's a very useful tool when comparing speakers.
It's hard to describe what phase distortion sounds like but if you compare a few speakers with both music and a sine wave sweep you'll notice an unnatural sound that comes and goes at certain frequencies which sounds and feels very uncomfortable.
With music on its own you hear a mixed mish mash of lots of different frequencies all playing at the same time. Depending on what speakers you're using some of these frequencies are in phase while others are out of phase and all are at different and constantly varying volume levels which drown each other out to varying degrees. This can make it difficult to isolate any problems that the speaker has and you end up with the situation where you have an unnatural or irritating sound but you can't quite put your finger on exactly what's wrong with it.
With a sine wave sweep you can isolate each individual frequency one at a time and hear very clearly how a speaker sounds at this particular frequency. Using a sine wave sweep together with music will tell you much more about why a speaker sounds the way it does and what are its shortcomings are (that may not otherwise be immediately noticed with a quick listen when auditioning them in a shop) than just using music on it own to compare speakers.
While clarity, a flat frequency response, dynamic range, a good stereo image and the absence of clipping are all very important factors for sound quality, having it all in phase will help make speakers so sound much more pleasant and easy to listen too. It's makes such a huge difference to how enjoyable a speaker sounds and yet most audiophiles are too obsessed with worrying about the relatively insignificant cables and bit-rates they use with their massively phase distorted hifi systems to realise.
Phase distortion is more audible than variations in amplitude and yet it's completely ignored by most people so they end up disatisfied with the way their hifi sounds and waste lots of time and money trying all sorts of different solutions to fix it without understanding what the problem is to start with. Their instinct tells them that something is unnatural with the sound they're hearing but they don't know why.
When phase distortion is described on forums many people don't fully understand what effect it has on the sound. If people took the time to play a sine wave sweep as well as music through several speakers in close succession it would be immediately obvious what a big effect that changes in phase has on the sound.
Ok, rant over.
What are your thoughts on this?