RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal.

I'm sorry for you if you never get silence. Not only is it bad for listening to music, it is bad for health. Where I live if I shut off my appliances I get silence, as there are few neighbors around most days. On a non-windy day the only outside noise I hear are roosters, ravens and geese, plus seasonal lawn mowers and snow plows. The "main" rood is 200 yards away and it has little traffic outside of ski season. Last week was a bit noisy, as the road was repaved.

The dynamic range created by musicians in a symphony orchestra (loudest tutti attack vs. quietest solo sustained note) is about 55 dB. However, in the pauses between notes there is hall decay down to the threshold of audibility. The actual dynamic range experienced by the listener will depend on how quiet the hall is, where the listener is sitting, etc. but can be 120 dB. Hearing all the decaying ambiance may not be necessary to enjoy the music, but it's there and if it can't be heard in a recording this aspect of realism will be lost. It is possible to achieve this level of dynamic range using high resolution digital formats and suitable low noise microphones. You should be able to hear residual hall noise from the recording venue on the recording, not hum or hiss or other recording or system artifacts.

I checked and I can reliably hear a 1000 Hz tone recorded at a level of -100 dB (96/24) using volume settings that I customarily use to playback large scale orchestral recordings. I didn't shut off any appliances, but I did close the door to my listening room. My computer is not completely silent, so I couldn't do much better than this due to fan noise and possibly disk noise. I will try this again on another occasion, this time using a silent computer and powering down everything in my home other than the computer and audio equipment.

We don't have to "try" to listen to sounds below the noise floor. If we didn't have that ability we wouldn't be here today, as our ancestors would have been eaten before they reproduced.

Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Jaundiced Ear 00:58:38 09/12/14 (28)

Audiophiles prefer Formula E (nt) - Scrith 09:42:08 09/14/14 (0)

If your... - audioengr 13:34:10 09/12/14 (11)

I don't know... - Jaundiced Ear 02:16:52 09/16/14 (2)

you dont get it - audioengr 10:20:55 09/16/14 (1)

Ah! My mistake! Sorry about that! nt - Jaundiced Ear 10:43:14 09/16/14 (0)

RE: If your... - AbeCollins 15:49:27 09/12/14 (7)

RE: If your... - Tony Lauck 09:34:32 09/13/14 (4)

RE: If your... - AbeCollins 13:46:33 09/13/14 (3)

RE: If your... - Tony Lauck 14:11:06 09/13/14 (2)

RE: If your... - AbeCollins 08:31:42 09/15/14 (1)

RE: If your... - Tony Lauck 09:47:12 09/15/14 (0)

RE: If your... - audioengr 09:29:28 09/13/14 (1)

RE: If your... - AbeCollins 13:48:19 09/13/14 (0)

I know a troll when I smell it - and this one literally stinks. N/T - carcass93 09:33:35 09/12/14 (1)

RE: I know a troll when I smell it - and this one literally stinks. N/T - Old SteveA 12:14:18 09/12/14 (0)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - fmak 05:00:16 09/12/14 (12)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - b.l.zeebub 07:47:13 09/12/14 (6)

I said hearing in SPL - fmak 09:51:45 09/12/14 (5)

So what? - b.l.zeebub 10:48:51 09/12/14 (4)

Inmates are resistant to the idea of audio masking - Jaundiced Ear 16:23:52 09/12/14 (0)

RE: So what?This - fmak 12:41:15 09/12/14 (0)

"differences of about 40-50dB" - couple of questions for you. - carcass93 11:09:12 09/12/14 (1)

RE: "differences of about 40-50dB" - couple of questions for you. - b.l.zeebub 07:44:54 09/13/14 (0)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Ugly 06:57:05 09/12/14 (4)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Tony Lauck 07:54:30 09/12/14 (3)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Ugly 19:49:53 09/12/14 (1)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Tony Lauck 09/13/1409:02:04 09/13/14 (0)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - AbeCollins 11:14:42 09/12/14 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal. - Tony Lauck 09/13/1409:02:04 09/13/14 (0)

RE: People here keep acting as if it is simple to hear a -120dB down signal.

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