What kind of audio setup do people use for listening to samples critically?

Let me start with a description of mine (low-endish):

1. Soundproofed PC (not totally silent, but less than 26 dB)
2. Gametheater XP sound card (resamples output to 48kHZ as per PC99 spec, so far from ideal) with s/pdif output
3. Art DI/O external DAC (I don't always use this)
4. HK AVR-4000 receiver with built-in crummy headphone amp (sometimes I use the DACs inside the AVR)
5. Sennheiser HD-590 headphones

I'm asking this, because I'm thinking of upgrading my PC-audio system (mainly soundcard to bit perfect output) and headphones/headphone amp to something better. I end up listening quite a lot of music on my pc daily.

I wonder if I will be able to hear any differences in some harder to distinguish artifacts by upgrading? I'm an untrained ear in regards to audio compression and a general "bronze ear" in other regards as well.

Or do you think that most of the artifact detection comes from the listner herself being attuned to certain anomalies in the sound?

cheers,
Halcyon

PS Admins: I didn't know which forum to post to. If this is the wrong forum, please accept my apology and move the post to a proper location.

Computer with only a CPU fan running, which is a Molex from quietpc.com, rated at about 26 dBA, which blows air on a relatively cool Celeron 800. All other fans, including the power supply fan, have been removed. The hard drive runs in a silencer sleeve, also from quietpc.com.



M-audio Audiophile 2496.



straight out to my headphones via the soundcard's DAC.



Grado SR325



I would probably list them in order as follows:

1. Physical ability
2. Amount of practice at listening for artifacts
3. Adequate audio equipment.

Number 3 is last because I think that most PC audio equipment (except for the crummy loudspeakers), including inexpensive headphones and even a noisy PC environment is adequate to hear many types of artifacts. bAdDuDeX could hear artifacts over the fan noise of his PC, which he described as being quite loud, and with various types of headphones (although he ended up with Grado 125's). Filburt uses inexpensive Sony earbuds as his headphone of choice.

I rate physical ability as Number 1 because no amount of practice can train some people (like myself) to hear certain types of artifacts like ringing at frequencies above 12 kHz. My hearing range simply doesn't extend that high. Also, apparently some people who have above average hearing at high frequencies and who are very practiced at listening to the faults of audio codecs are nevertheless still insensitive to transient-smearing artifacts. My guess is that such people have less physical ability to pick out such artifacts.

I rate Practice less than 1, but much higher than 3. I really think the quality of audio equipment, while important up to a certain point, does not have to be super-duper in order to be adequate for hearing artifacts. Practice, however, is very important, almost as important as pure physical ability. It's amazing what you can train yourself to hear, given enough time and repetition.

ff123

Although I have no objection to people using headphones and computer soundcards - they can provide very high quality listening- I prefer to burn the samples to CD-RW using Nero, and listen to them on my h-fi system with full range loudspeakers.

I do this because I am more comfortable that the CD player/amp/speaker system playing in a room environment delivers a more natural representation of recorded music than do headphones - at leat I feel it is more natural. Don't get me wrong, headphones are wonderful for a truely intimate listening experience.

The other aspect of using full range loudspeakers in a room, is that the soundsatge of the original performance can be recreated, or in the case of highly produced music, the sound field that the producer created behind the mixing desk and monitor speakers. The subtle directional cues ariving at the ear in a loudspeaker listening room environment are important in recreating music.

If a codec was deficient in some way re soundfield and imaging, then this would be more apparent in loudspeaker listening.

I also consider that loudspeakers are potentially more accurate and extended in frequency range than most headphones, but for the very expensive headphones that is.

My listening equipment is as follows:
1 The room was designed to avoid coincidence of axial nodes, and to acieve an acceptable reverb time decay
2. Marantz CD-16 CD player
3. Audiolab 8000S and 8000PX amplification
4. Dali 850 loudspeakers biamped

Ruse,

Bi-ampped, or bi-wired?

Here's mine:
SB Live! (I Know...)
Caliber RCA cable
Illusion Solid State Reference 12 pre-amp
Genelec 1030A active monitors monitors
Also as a sound source: Rega Planet CD player, with Taralabs cabeling.

Biamped. Audiolab 8000S powers mid driver and tweeter, Audiolab 8000PX powers dual 8" bass drivers.

Noisy computer (Athlon 1000), but it's next to my bed and it runs day and night so I don't really 'hear' it anymore

SB PCI 128, using speaker out

+-10 m of Sennheiser cabling, connected to a volume control unit (HZR6), stolen from a pair of HDTV50's.

another 3m to a pair of HD570's

If someone posts a clip that supposedly needs an audiophile quality system to hear the problems with I burn it onto a CDR and take it to my mothers or fathers (Philips and Schneider systems of which I don't known the specs by hearth), where I try with both the speakers and my HD570's.

--
GCP

Rega Planet 2000
Audio Note M1 Preamp
DOXA 70B Poweramp
QLN Signature speakers on sandfilled stands
Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables
Nordost Red Dawn signal cables

..time to change those valves again

Replying to a thread circa 2001. This must be the biggest thread resurrection ever.

I praise thee, oh necromancer of unfathomable power, for thou art truely a master of the dark arts. I have, in more favorable times, tried to amass such power to bring forth a thread of this magnitude, but alas failed at the hands of the great and utmost powerful mod. You sir, must have dice with faces that number beyond that of mortal numbers! Also, your fortitude and luck make you a most hearty foe to those who oppose. NAY!!! THOU HAVE NO FOE!!! FOR THOU HAS SMITED THEM ALL!!!

congrats on bringing back a thread which was long forgotten.

LOL that sounds like a piece of ManOwaR or Rhapsody text