Can you hear the difference? Of course... you can't.
This provocative test serves two purposes: to raise the awareness of what has happened to our music's dynamic range lately, and to question the need for a 24-bit digital audio as a delivery format in such a context.
Differences between 8-bit audio files and 16-bit are audible though - and are demonstrated here - but only marginally when it comes to most of the music that people are listening to nowadays.
Files being tested
| 16-bit | 8-bit |
One of the world's biggest modern hits - Psy's Gangnam Style - with its original 16-bit version, and its 8-bit down-converted sibling.
You like classic rock music better? This Neil Young test is for you.
The Test
| 16-bit 8-bit | |
| Listen to [?] then vote — multiple guesses not allowed (your vote triggers a new draw) | |
To pass a blind test, you will need to perform 10 trials at least, obtain a high score and reach a high confidence level: 95% is standard to rate statistical significance. It means that your score outperforms random guesses by 95%. There is still a probability that you just got lucky though, 5%. To reduce such probability to 1%, keep testing until you reached a confidence level of 99%.
Related pages
Dynamic Range Test
External Links
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If you are looking for pretty nice headphones, here is my favorite in terms of 'best value for the money' : the HD668b. If money is not an issue, try the HD600.
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Take up the challenge
- Find the smallest difference in sound levels you can detect.
The Level Series: 6dB 3dB 1dB 0.5dB 0.2dB 0.1dB - Find the highest frequency you can reliably hear.
The Frequency Series: 10kHz 11k 12k 13k 14k 15k 16k 17k 18k 19k 20kHz - Find the smallest difference in pitch (frequency) you can hear.
The Pitch Series: 50c 20c 10c 5c 2c 1c - Find the shortest timing difference you can reliably hear. NEW
The Timing Series: 1ms 2ms 5ms 10ms 20ms 50ms 100ms - Find the highest dynamic range offered by your listening environment.
The Dynamic Range Series: 36dB 42dB 48dB 54dB 60dB 66dB 72dB 78dB - Do you have the absolute hearing ability?
The Perfect Pitch Blind Test: C Scale Chromatic - Are your ears sensitive to Absolute Phase?
The Absolute Polarity Blind Test: Here - Can you hear a difference between 16-bit and 8-bit audio files?
The 16-bit v/s 8-bit Blind Test