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Kiwiburger · 22nd December 2006

20 Hz to 20 kHz is the nominal range of human hearing, at best. A lot of audio equipment claims to pass signal in this range - although plenty of audio gear, including microphones and headphones, cannot pass signal over that range. Don't try to test you hearing with anything restrictive in the signal path.

But there is a huge difference between:
A/ passing signal from 20Hz to 20 kHz at all,
B/ passing signal from 20Hz to 20 kHz plus or minus a specificed dB range,
C/ passing signal and sound good, free from noise, distortion, artifacts, phase shifts, etc

If you want to drive a car all day, everyday at 100 mph, do you buy a car that (according to the specifications) has a top speed of 100 mph? I wouldn't. If you bought a car that has a theoretical top speed of 200 mph, you would have much more fun driving this at 100 mph.

A preamp that can pass signal from "DC to light" as Mr Mackie used to say has a much better chance of sounding good over the important frequencies. In the case of Mackie, that was advertising hyperbole. But there are truely great preamps that can pass frequencies well above and below audio, and that translates into superb performance in the audio range. It's not hard - there are so many cheap radios and cellphones that handle radio frequencies with ease. So why settle for compromised gear.

But - as soon as you insert digital conversion into the equation, your bandwith is automatically limited by the sampling frequency rate, and the necessary filtering to make it work. But again - the solution is to pick a sampling rate waay above audio so it's not an issue.

The frequencies you can't hear may screw up the frequencies you can hear.

22nd December 2006	#5
Kiwiburger Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 4,075	20 Hz to 20 kHz is the nominal range of human hearing, at best. A lot of audio equipment claims to pass signal in this range - although plenty of audio gear, including microphones and headphones, cannot pass signal over that range. Don't try to test you hearing with anything restrictive in the signal path. But there is a huge difference between: A/ passing signal from 20Hz to 20 kHz at all, B/ passing signal from 20Hz to 20 kHz plus or minus a specificed dB range, C/ passing signal and sound good, free from noise, distortion, artifacts, phase shifts, etc If you want to drive a car all day, everyday at 100 mph, do you buy a car that (according to the specifications) has a top speed of 100 mph? I wouldn't. If you bought a car that has a theoretical top speed of 200 mph, you would have much more fun driving this at 100 mph. A preamp that can pass signal from "DC to light" as Mr Mackie used to say has a much better chance of sounding good over the important frequencies. In the case of Mackie, that was advertising hyperbole. But there are truely great preamps that can pass frequencies well above and below audio, and that translates into superb performance in the audio range. It's not hard - there are so many cheap radios and cellphones that handle radio frequencies with ease. So why settle for compromised gear. But - as soon as you insert digital conversion into the equation, your bandwith is automatically limited by the sampling frequency rate, and the necessary filtering to make it work. But again - the solution is to pick a sampling rate waay above audio so it's not an issue. The frequencies you can't hear may screw up the frequencies you can hear. __________________ My carbon footprint is bigger than yours.