Do you trust your ears?

Habanero Monk

I like the trust but verify. I was helping a friend on Sunday integrate two subs. He has a pretty nice sub rig with a Crown XTi 4002. While the bass is awesome and he's been enjoying if for a while now, my measurement mic showed some anomalies.

Using 1/12 smoothing and playing a sweep the system was 9dB down at 51Hz and up 6dB at ~40. Just went into the Band Manager interface on my laptop and lit up two PEQ's, made the adjustment and watched the sweep correct in real-time.

I wouldn't have trusted anyone to walk in and figure it out ears only in a timely fashion.

steveinaz

I trust my ears' abilities as far as tonal accuracy, but not frequency extension---which, IMO, is not nearly as important.

[Deleted User]

I trust my ears, but lick to verify.

bikezappa

I have never educated my ears to frequency and amplitude.

I usually don't trust anything that has not been educated.

So NO, because they can be fooled and tricked.

mantis

I need nothing but my ears to tell me If.

headrott

rednedtugent wrote: »

I trust my ears, but lick to verify.

How well does your tongue hear? And you obviously trust it, right? After all, it's do the verification.:razz:

heiney9

bikezappa wrote: »

I have never educated my ears to frequency and amplitude.

I usually don't trust anything that has not been educated.

So NO, because they can be fooled and tricked.

Absolutely I trust my ears!

Please explain this trickery and foolery of which you speak. I can understand becoming somewhat educated, but I don't see how that leads to tricks and foolery. Please site examples you have experienced or quote studies in which sitting down listening to the like of Coltrane or Hendrix on a 2 channel rig you were tricked or fooled.

H9

WLDock

Yes, I trust my ears.....but it sucks that I know that they are not as sharp as they were in my twenties. Even though I played drums they were sensitive. I could easily pick out distortion, harmonics, resonance, timbre, etc that many did not pay attention to. A system that was not clean or had too many response issues would make my head hurt and drive me nuts after awhile....I would have to get my hands on the controls!

I find that using my ears and trying different things (tuning) one can get any system to sound better....everything from cheap computer speakers to high end systems. I was asked to give my feedback (Ears) on a couple of major projects. One was a Ford Raptor/Pioneer Electronics audio project that a couple of engineer friends were working on. The other was a high end SQ competition car that was on the way to IASCA Finals....and yes...it was "High End". Focal TLR tweets, Seas Excel , Morel drivers, Custom made ID free air 15" subs, several XTANT amps, Kimber Kable throughout....more money thrown at it then the guy had in his home rig!

I trust my ears....but when you get several "Good Ears" on something....you find that these "Like Minds" really have a lot to talk about!

bikezappa

Please explain this trickery and foolery of which you speak. I can understand becoming somewhat educated, but I don't see how that leads to tricks and foolery. Please site examples you have experienced or quote studies in which sitting down listening to the like of Coltrane or Hendrix on a 2 channel rig you were tricked or fooled.

Just like a magician can trick your eyes into believing what you see, I think audio can trick your ears.

Could be that some people like a certain type of distortion or laid back frequency response in their system or an extended bass.

I have no studies to quote. I was just responding to the question.

Just an opinion like most every one else here.

George Grand

I'm stone deaf and I trust my ears to mislead me on a regular basis. Very sobering, and can really tame those impulse audio purchases.

treitz3

The poll is still open. Let's get some more answers from everybody, not just a select few. Thanks!

Tom

cnh

Even though my frequency range is somewhat attenuated as I age. I agree with Steve above that that does not really affect the music I can still hear which, let's face it, is mostly below 15Khz, well below!

Recently I picked up a set of Polk Monitor 7s and was pleasantly surprised with their sound-stage and imaging. My ears felt like they were 25 again. lol

Of course I "trust" my ears. And I would add that I also trust a number of "other" members' ears, on this site, as much or even more than my own because they are usually in agreement with mine. How is that for BIAS? OK boys, you can get the graphs, measurements and double blind studies out now! How does that "work"? If I can't SEE it I can't HEAR it?

cnh

SCompRacer

I trust my ears. I've also seen distortion measurements with gear that showed what I liked and didn't like about it. The graphs showed distortion, the types of and amounts of over the entire audio frequency range. That reinforced confidence in my hearing.

I like to do my judgment listening late at night or really early so there is less ambient noise and no interruptions.

hochpt21

I have made some changes that I can hear, and some that I can't. The ones I can hear are very exciting and usually apparent. The ones I can't hear I usually just leave.

I am in the everything matters camp up to a certain price point.

Thorton

Yes I do. If I didn't I would have not spent thousands of dollars on my equipment and been content with a $100 Sony boom box. And as others have mentioned, I do value the ears and comments of more experienced members on this forum for assistance.

zane77

Again I trust my ears but they are always learning. I wish i had the ears I had in my twenties but I learn to listen for other subtleties from other people on this forum

boston1450

Yes i do

schwarcw

Your ears are the only tool that you can believe how something sounds. Have your hearing checked. I think you will hear more if you have the volume somewhere between low and low/medium. And as others have said minimal ambient noise (AC, fans, TVs in other rooms, window open, etc.)

Also test your hearing. Use a SPL meter when using test tones at various frequencies to make check what the minimum audible dB level is for that frequency. Plot it on graph paper and keep it as a record. Check it every year or so to see if your hearing is changing in your listening area.

Eocuph

I thought this was interesting...

http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

bikezappa

Eocuph wrote: »

I thought this was interesting...

http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

Excellent

mantis

Eocuph wrote: »

I thought this was interesting...

http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

That was awesome. Probably why I close my eyes when demoing speakers, wire, etc.

steveinaz

I have found (in my own experience) that the human voice is the single most important element. If a speaker gets that right, most everything else will fall into place in the most critical frequencies.

treitz3

Interesting observation, Steve.

Tom

zane77

That was very interesting!

George Grand

steveinaz wrote: »

I have found (in my own experience) that the human voice is the single most important element. If a speaker gets that right, most everything else will fall into place in the most critical frequencies.

The human voice is the sonic experience that you have been exposed to more than any other, basically 24/7 your whole life. It SHOULD be the reference standard don't you think?

Now that works for voices you are totally familiar with. How about the ones you've never heard before. Can you say with any certainty whatsoever that speaker X got it just right? Nope. Slippery slope.

treitz3

I wouldn't even know if a speaker does my own voice right. The vibrations within my ear canal as I speak change what it is I am hearing. As for other people's voices, I have always heard an approximation of their voice but never have I heard a speaker nail one just right. Close perhaps but no cigar. Very good point, Mr. Grand.

Tom

cnh

McGurk effect. Confusion when two different pieces of information present a contradiction to two different senses. Perhaps this is "why" many here prefer to engage in critical listening with the MOST minimal intrusion of visual cues. Some, myself, included, prefer an almost complete darkness with just the slight glow of tubes as the light, or no light at all. How many times have we thought to ourselves how much better we can hear or concentrate when "visual" cues are NOT a factor.

That being the case, we now have to move beyond this effect and google an "audio" analog of it? No?

cnh

bthogan

Eocuph wrote: »

I thought this was interesting...

http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

tl;dr:

That's not an aural illusion, it's an aural/visual illusion. And my speakers don't have lips.

George Grand

treitz3 wrote: »

I wouldn't even know if a speaker does my own voice right. The vibrations within my ear canal as I speak change what it is I am hearing.

Which brings you back to the first time you ever heard a halfway decent recording of your own voice on a halfway decent rig. "Wow! That's what I sound like (out there)?"

I think what I may have convinced myself of is this:

If a particular speaker can get more than one voice you're intimately familiar with across to you correctly, chances are that's your baby. What the chances are I have no idea because I'm mostly full of it and deaf anyway. What do I care?

bikezappa

Talking/hearing is very, very soft touching.