@coffmanlabs, “Other experiments have noted that the huge frequency non-linearity of human hearing greatly outweighs spec measurements--and that on a person-by-person basis.”
The obvious conclusion being that our hearing differences are greater than the differences in the sound of the equipment we are listening to.
Your point about “Live music should always be listened to (a lot) by designers.” is one that’s regularly touted as a means of establishing some kind of reference point in this sometimes maddeningly abstract pursuit of ours. However the fact that we all hear differently again will have a large bearing as to what we think is correct.
Your post reminded me of reading about the work of one Alfred Tomatis. I recall reading of his results of his fascinating analysis of Caruso, and how hearing loss (or damage) gave him that unique voice. I think that one of his conclusions was that you can’t sing (or speak) that particular frequency that you cannot hear.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._TomatisPerhaps ultimately if we care about fidelity to the source, and I’m not sure anyone really does, despite what they might say, then we just have to stick with spec measurements. We humans are just not linear creatures and will all have deficiencies of some degree at various frequencies. And probably aren’t even aware of them.
Thanks again for reminding me of some of the fundamental basics. Far too easy to keep going around in circles, isn’t it?
