Good question. Never tried anything else. I do know there are a couple people who tried cheaper ones that weren’t as good. So quality does count for something even here.
I have no idea what it is we are hearing or why it works at all with CD. Only know it does. Now with my turntable the sound is really something. Which is the bigger improvement CD or LP? Don’t ask. Who knows. They are so different. All I know is they both got a lot better, and in the same ways.
This paper has a pretty good discussion of what is going on. http://www.townshendaudio.com/PDF/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf
The most important thing I think is there are about 15k hair cells in the ear that sense sound, but only about 3k of them respond to the 20-20k range we call "audible". That leaves 12k that respond to sounds we cannot hear. Four times as many, for something we cannot hear seems a bit odd to me.
Another great example of how what we can measure falls so far short of what we can hear. Anyone who tries supertweeters will know in an instant we certainly can hear these ultra-sonic inaudible frequencies. The question is not whether we can or not. We can. The question is how?
That is one for psychoacousticians. Me, I am an audiophile. If it works, if it makes my system sound better, I just do it. You probably are right, inaudible frequencies get in there and interact with audible ones. Would it be nice to know why, sure. But ultimately? Long as it works that is good enough for me.
I have no idea what it is we are hearing or why it works at all with CD. Only know it does. Now with my turntable the sound is really something. Which is the bigger improvement CD or LP? Don’t ask. Who knows. They are so different. All I know is they both got a lot better, and in the same ways.
This paper has a pretty good discussion of what is going on. http://www.townshendaudio.com/PDF/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf
The most important thing I think is there are about 15k hair cells in the ear that sense sound, but only about 3k of them respond to the 20-20k range we call "audible". That leaves 12k that respond to sounds we cannot hear. Four times as many, for something we cannot hear seems a bit odd to me.
Another great example of how what we can measure falls so far short of what we can hear. Anyone who tries supertweeters will know in an instant we certainly can hear these ultra-sonic inaudible frequencies. The question is not whether we can or not. We can. The question is how?
That is one for psychoacousticians. Me, I am an audiophile. If it works, if it makes my system sound better, I just do it. You probably are right, inaudible frequencies get in there and interact with audible ones. Would it be nice to know why, sure. But ultimately? Long as it works that is good enough for me.