Does anybody use Test CD's or the streaming equivellent, to see how their system and speakers respond, particularly at the low and high ends of the spectrum?
Test Albums and Test Tones.
- Thread starter gowiththeflow
- Start date
TrevC
Well-known member
TrevC
Well-known member
What are you trying to discover? Unless you are calibrating and equalizing your speakers and room using a microphone there's not much point. Be very careful and keep the volume way down, speakers can cook with continuous test tones, especially with high ones that you can't hear!
Just out of curiousity, I wondered about a listening test with what I assume to be a ready made package of really well recorded test tracks, covering various genres of music. The purpose basically to see if I'm suitably impressed how they sound on my system.
I also have wondered if the tests tones, used carefully, would give a (very) rough indication of the system and speakers abilty to play low and high frequencies (e.g. sub 60Hz and 14Khz and above).
It isn't for any serious attempt to calibrate or set up my system or speakers. As I said, just curiosity.
So I've had a play around. Digital streamed source, lossless FLAC from Tidal.
Most of the music tracks sounded pretty darned good in terms of sound quality. No musical or sonic revelations though and it didn't blow my socks off.
The test tones did have me wondering though. It was the higher frequencies where I was quite surprised. At 14Khz the tone was faint. I heard nothing between 15Khz and 18Khz, but at 19Khz I could hear the tone, but it was again quite faint.
Listening up close to the tweeters at the missing frequencies, I could hear some faint noise or distortion, but no test tone.
Ah yes! in my middle age, my hearing is on the way out. Well I do have some loss of the higher frequencies in one ear, but these results didn't seem right. I changed the speakers for another pair. Similar result. Was it just me? My daughter, has very accute hearing and heard the same.
As I'm currently having problems getting the best out of my amp and speaker combination, I'm wondering if my amp or the digital to analogue processing is at fault here, or is it because of the source material and/or the use of a streaming medium as my source?
I also have wondered if the tests tones, used carefully, would give a (very) rough indication of the system and speakers abilty to play low and high frequencies (e.g. sub 60Hz and 14Khz and above).
It isn't for any serious attempt to calibrate or set up my system or speakers. As I said, just curiosity.
So I've had a play around. Digital streamed source, lossless FLAC from Tidal.
Most of the music tracks sounded pretty darned good in terms of sound quality. No musical or sonic revelations though and it didn't blow my socks off.
The test tones did have me wondering though. It was the higher frequencies where I was quite surprised. At 14Khz the tone was faint. I heard nothing between 15Khz and 18Khz, but at 19Khz I could hear the tone, but it was again quite faint.
Listening up close to the tweeters at the missing frequencies, I could hear some faint noise or distortion, but no test tone.
Ah yes! in my middle age, my hearing is on the way out. Well I do have some loss of the higher frequencies in one ear, but these results didn't seem right. I changed the speakers for another pair. Similar result. Was it just me? My daughter, has very accute hearing and heard the same.
As I'm currently having problems getting the best out of my amp and speaker combination, I'm wondering if my amp or the digital to analogue processing is at fault here, or is it because of the source material and/or the use of a streaming medium as my source?
Here is a link for one of the Super Telarc Sound cds (32 bit). Tidal also has this available to stream, might be worth a go.
Listen to things you know well. Job done. Test CDs can only do so much, stuff you listen to all the time will tell you so much more. After all system building is about your taste noone else's.
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