Pretty cool link I've found on H-F, it's a bunch of A/B tests to measure how well you can hear distortion. The tests are simple and well-made and you can compare your results with the average of the other participants at the end.

Audibility Of Distortion

I maxed out at about -30 on test tones and -18 on music. Pretty average, even on top shelf gear (not here, maybe, but in general)

-12 db on the music, using my Pico and TF10s. My ears suck.

WHAT?!?!?

Sorry, someone was going to make that joke sooner or later, might as well be me.

Did a quick run through the default music test with the bookshelf speakers on my desk at a moderate volume and got -30dB...

Did the pop music w/HD201s and made first mistake on -45dB.

Well I'm at -18db with the music. with 650s

WHAT?!?!?

Could you speak up a bit, I can't hear ya.

Did the pop music w/HD201s and made first mistake on -45dB.

Holy hell!

-18dB on music for me, too.

I got -33db with the two tone, but only -24db with the pop vocals

I did -30dB with two-tone and -15dB with music using HD650 straight out of the MacBook. I'll try again later with a better setup, but I've had my dose of Tracy Chapman for today.

-27db with pop music with laptop headphone out with im716

-33dB for the two tone, also using bookshelf speakers.

-45dB for the Music. Haven't tried the tones yet.

Did the pop music w/HD201s and made first mistake on -45dB.

Continued on and made second mistake on a -42dB one... oops

I didn't try any of the others.

Failed at -27 on pop musicz0r sad times

Kind of a poor test since the "clean" music itself is distorted. On the test tones I can clean it all the way to -42 or -45, but only to the low 30's with the Tracy Chapman music, the key was the first two chords on the guitar intro. The vocal music, only made it to -6.

The interesting thing here is how equipment makers at audio shows & elsewhere favour simple vocal & jazz recordings for their demos & auditioning, and incidentally this is the type of music where it's hardest to hear distortions. For instance the Cowboy Junkies' "Trinity Session" album will sound good through any system, the main difference is how much detail there is and how the soundstage lays out. It's not going to sound distorted or bad unless the system is truly awful. But play the final movement of Dvorak's 9th and most speakers & headphones will choke and reveal horrible colourations & distortions.

It's interesting: I changed to using my Linn Classik Headphone out fed from my DEQ 2496 DAC and I got a -30 but went back to the GS-X and DAC3 and got -18 again...... odd

What gets me is that I can hear distortion in both, so I have trouble telling which is the one they mean.

Yeah, I see that. At a certain point, the inherent distortion is at a higher level than the induced distortion.

In other news... you've got a fast car.

It's interesting: I changed to using my Linn Classik Headphone out fed from my DEQ 2496 DAC and I got a -30 but went back to the GS-X and DAC3 and got -18 again...... odd

Got the same thing with my GS-X SE vs GS-X Balanced. It's very interesting. I have been thinking about it and there is inherent canceling of the even order harmonics from the balanced setup and I think it's making the whole thing less distorted.

Also I totally agree with Grawk about there being a lot of distortion to start with. The issue is not that the two are the same but that which one is distorted for me.

Kind of a poor test since the "clean" music itself is distorted.

I agree, it would be nice if we could submit some music recommendation to them. 4th movement of Dvorak's 9th or something similarly bombastic -- albeit well-recorded bombast -- would be an excellent choice (especially since it's one of my favorite pieces ever, anyway).

Well, there's always the good old standby of "O Fortuna", that's pretty darn bombastic. Of course there's a million versions and I have no clue which ones are the good ones.