Support and General Use > Audio Playback, Database and Playlists
Rockbox Audio Quality versus Original Firmware (RMAA comparison)
aegis:
Hi Febs,
I'm no engineer but these graphs look pretty the same and the tiny differences can be just statistically irrelevant so I would ask: how much are frequency response and dynamics just a question of hardware - quality of filters, circuits etc?
If the mp3 file is the same the only difference between systems is the decoder used by particular players and equallizer presets. Can someone explain if it has anything to do with frequency response assuming codec is not just broken?
Febs:
I think that these are all good questions, but I am no engineer either. I would love to get input from some of the more technical people here as to how these results should be interpreted.
omendelovitz, are you certain that you are comparing the two with the exact same volume and with no processing or EQ involved?
I've added a frequency response graph of Rockbox/iPod with the line-out to the second post above.
omendelovitz:
Yeah, Febs I am. I should Qualify last night's statement though. Truthfully, using a VERY transparent Amp and High End Cans, I played my reference tunes through both RB and AOS, one after another (admittedly, with a pause = reboot time). My new conclusions are: RB makes iPod sound more like ZVM - wider soundstage (and almost by extension, better imaging - to much to explain and I'd probably mess it up, so I won't go there); otherwise, the two sound the same. A proper analog for this scenario would be Grado sound vs. Sennheiser sound.
Hope that helps.
Febs:
Unfortunately, I could see this thread getting bogged down with debate regarding wholly subjective impressions of sound quality, and since there are other existing threads on that, I think that we should not go there. The whole purpose of this thread was to take an objective look at the differences between the firmware. So, for purposes of this thread, let's stick with objective analysis.
(I will say this: if you're going to analogize between the Sennheiser and Grado sound, I think that even the staunchest subjectivist would agree that the Sennheiser "veil" should be observable in the frequency response.)
breez:
Have you tried the stereo crosstalk test in RMAA and found any differences between firmwares?
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