96 vs. 48 or 44.1 kHz sampling --> scientific test, perhaps here is the 1. listening test ! Options

[user]

http://www.hfm-detmold.de/texts/de/hfm/eti...ten/seite1.html


http://www.hfm-detmold.de/texts/de/hfm/eti...ten/seite9.html

etc.

(seite = site / page)



it is a summary of German diploma work, written 1998, so it should be independent from companies like Zoony etc.

It was quite a good reading, I hope, somebody of the germans could translate important things, sorry, I have no time.

So, the result was:




44.1 kHz, 16 bit:

they used Tascam-DAT-Recorder DA-30 MKII as reference for CD standard, 44.1/16.

They tell, that this was picked out very clearly from the majority.

(btw, they show a graph, that says, that 16 bit has in mid frequency range a noise level, which is higher than our hearing abilities. very interesting !)

so, 44.1/16 is not sufficient.






48 kHz, 24 bit

one DAC was preferred over analogue original, but why could not be figured out. So there was difference but which ?

another DAC was able to reproduce the analogue original as best DAC of all tested, better than all the 96 kHz DACs !!!!!

in blind test it was 50/50 %, so this DAC could not be distinguihsed from original source.



96 kHz:

Dacs had worse performance than the 48 khZ ones.
but some were "beta-versions...".



Look at the graphs, especially site 9.

Sorry for this short post, but I think, it may interest you...

This post has been edited by user: Jan 30 2003, 12:43

[ChristianHJW]

Here is how i would make such a test :

1. Record a jazz combo live with a simple, classic 2 microphone setup ( to preserve runtime delay best possible ), using a very high quality 24 Bit/ 96 Khz ADC

2. Downsample the recorded digital signal to 44.1 and 48 Khz afterwards on a PC, with a normal FFIR filter ( or whatever ), but using a very high internal precision to avoid rounding errors ( like 32 bit FP ), and dither the signal

3. Play back those downsampled signals using a state-of-the-art 24 Bit / 96 KHz DAC and an excellent stereo monitoring system

4. Let the user in an ABX decide what sounds 'best' or most natural to them

If you use different DACs you will hear the differences between them, and not the sampling frequency.