Have you ever regretted ABXing?, How has it changed your feelings about your stuff? Options

[BearcatSandor]

By "stuff" i mean equipment and music?

Have you ever ABXed something and found yourself not enjoying it as much as you did now that you know it's not all you thought it to be? Has the opposite ever happened to you?

I don't have the set up to ABX sound files yet (i'm a Linux user and both options seem to be dead). After participating in this forum for only a few days and reading of others experiences with 24-bit vs 16-bit music i'm now looking at my 24-bit collection of DVD-As, SACDs and 24-bit Studio Master downloads and thinking "..Damn it?" with a bit of confusion. I don't feel as secure with them anymore. I thought i had the 'best' sound i could get which is always a goal for folks like me.

Conversely, i might enjoy my redbook CDs more now as i won't be thinking "well they aren't 24-bit :"( " and i might not be hearing deficits that aren't really there.

I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I'm sure i'm not the only one here who's gone though this. Some of you started out as 'audiofools' too, right? How did you deal with this?

In a sense i'm kinda feeling "No, i don't want to look up ABX testing for loudspeakers. I waited 10 years for just the right pair to come to me and i really don't want to know that my $2.5k Anthony Gallo Acoustic Reference 3.1s are 'the same' as a pair of BestBuy specials." That's a bit of an exaggeration given how different speakers can be ...at least i think it is.

I'm uncertain. Honestly, i think i'm changing quickly and looking for support.

So how did you deal when the ABXing didn't work out how how you hoped it might?

Thanks

edit: Brought it back on-topic a bit.

This post has been edited by BearcatSandor: Nov 3 2010, 21:59

[Onebeforezod]

The weird thing for me was that I really could tell the difference between 24 bit and 16 bit when I did ABX testing....48khz and 96khz however? Not so much. Got about 40%.

Mp3s vs lossless though is night and day.

[greynol]

Got about 40%

40% is the result one would expect from randomly choosing (read: guessing).

difference between 24 bit and 16 bit
[...]
Mp3s vs lossless though is night and day.

ABX log and samples for these, please.

This post has been edited by greynol: Nov 25 2010, 02:44

[Onebeforezod]

Got about 40%

40% is the result one would expect from randomly choosing (read: guessing).

difference between 24 bit and 16 bit
[...]
Mp3s vs lossless though is night and day.

ABX log and samples for these, please.

Got about 40%

40% is the result one would expect from randomly choosing (read: guessing).

difference between 24 bit and 16 bit
[...]
Mp3s vs lossless though is night and day.

ABX log and samples for these, please.

Depends on the number of trials. 40% after a certain number of trials is not what one would expect from random choosing and is evidence of something going on actually. It's weird but a statistically significant margin of wrong answers would point to something other than chance at work.

CODE

foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v1.0.1
2010/11/11 02:15:23

File A: G:\Music\Audioslave\Audioslave\02 Show Me How to Live.m4a
File B: G:\Music\Audioslave\Audioslave\02 Show Me How to Live.wav

02:15:23 : Test started.
02:15:39 : 01/01 50.0%
02:16:05 : 02/02 25.0%
02:16:41 : 03/03 12.5%
02:17:36 : 04/04 6.3%
02:17:55 : 05/05 3.1%
02:18:21 : 06/06 1.6%
02:18:40 : 07/07 0.8%
02:19:12 : 08/08 0.4%
02:19:39 : 09/09 0.2%
02:20:23 : 10/10 0.1%
02:20:39 : 10/11 0.6%
02:20:41 : Test finished.

----------
Total: 10/11 (0.6%)

This was 16-bit vs 24 bit. Same 24 bit source file.

I had a test from long ago with mp3s vs lossless, but I don't think I saved the log. (results were similar) So I did another, the old one I did with 128kbs mp3 conversions, so I decided to do this new one with 320s, and I found that I really couldn't tell the difference. LAME ain't bad at all. I retract my statement of "night and day". But I'll have to retry the 128s again.

CODE

foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v1.0.1
2010/11/26 01:25:20

File A: G:\Music\Other\Joshua Redman\Freedom In The Groove\01 Hide And Seek.m4a
File B: G:\Music\Other\Joshua Redman\Freedom In The Groove\01 Hide And Seek.mp3

01:25:20 : Test started.
01:25:32 : 00/01 100.0%
01:25:38 : 00/02 100.0%
01:25:49 : 00/03 100.0%
01:25:55 : 01/04 93.8%
01:26:41 : 01/05 96.9%
01:27:31 : 02/06 89.1%
01:27:58 : 02/07 93.8%
01:28:46 : 03/08 85.5%
01:29:15 : 04/09 74.6%
01:30:08 : 04/10 82.8%
01:30:34 : 05/11 72.6%
01:30:48 : 06/12 61.3%
01:31:11 : Test finished.

----------
Total: 6/12 (61.3%)

But i did save the 48 vs 96 one...I think you misunderstood me, I said I really couldn't hear the difference here.

CODE

foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v1.0.1
2010/11/11 02:24:26

File A: G:\Music\24\Reiner - Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra, 1962 (24bit-96KHz vinyl)\1. R.Strauss; Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 - Part 1.flac
File B: G:\Music\24\Reiner - Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra, 1962 (24bit-96KHz vinyl)\1. R.Strauss; Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 - Part 1.wav

02:24:26 : Test started.
02:25:37 : 01/01 50.0%
02:27:39 : 01/02 75.0%
02:28:26 : 02/03 50.0%
02:29:10 : 03/04 31.3%
02:20:11 : 03/05 50.0%
02:21:06 : 04/06 34.4%
02:22:51 : 04/07 50.0%
02:24:02 : 04/08 63.7%
02:25:19 : 05/09 50.0%
02:26:52 : 05/10 62.3%
02:27:41 : 05/11 72.6%
02:28:49 : 05/12 80.6%
02:28:58 : 05/13 86.7%
02:29:48 : Test finished.

----------
Total: 5/13 (86.7%)

To sum it up, I was saying that 24 bit vs 16 is noticeable for me, but I have been humbled as far as mp3s go. :/
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to 24bit audio, and I don't know why. I can definitely hear the difference, particularly in horn parts, drums. Guitar depending on the distortion, but it really isn't the biggest deal. I listen to a lot of classical music, and it helps with making the different parts sound separated and clear, this I am sure of. What do you guys think?

P.S- I didn't have anyone with me for any ABX test. Sorry for the late reply! Turkey Day and all...)