Hartwig Hanser
Second Unit
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 301
I followed with interest the many discussions about pre/pros . One of the arguments seems to be that it should have a high SNR. For example, the Outlaw 950 seems to have a very high SNR (no offical numbers yet, but estimated to be over 100 dB), while the new Rotel 1066 has a SNR of 95 rsp 92 (for DD and DTS) in its specs. Of course, it sounds very reasonable that the higher the SNR, the better.
But I made an experiment just now to ask myself, how relevant this might be.
My tape recorder lists following SNRs: 60dB w/o dolby noise reduction, 68dB with Dolby B, 76dB with Dolby C. I popped in an empty cassette, turned on the volume to my usual setting and listened to the noise of the empty cassette. Of course, w/o Dolby it was clearly present. With Dolby B it was much reduced and very weak, but still detectable. With Dolby C it was practically not detectably.
All this is true for listening from my usual listening position. Of course when I come close to the speakers, the noise is better detectable resp. louder. But I wanted to check it in a normal listening situation.
So that means for me, that with an SNR of 76dB the noise is almost not detectable. Since every 6dB more, the noise level is down by half, I would think that anything over 82dB should be enough for real world listening, even of very quiet music rsp music with a wide dynamic range. With usual movie soundtracks, probably even less would be sufficient.
The conclusion would be that it is a moot point to argue for example a SNR of 92dB versus one of 102 dB, since both would be more than enough for letting noise disappear below the hearing threshold.
I invite discussion and other thoughts.
Hartwig
But I made an experiment just now to ask myself, how relevant this might be.
My tape recorder lists following SNRs: 60dB w/o dolby noise reduction, 68dB with Dolby B, 76dB with Dolby C. I popped in an empty cassette, turned on the volume to my usual setting and listened to the noise of the empty cassette. Of course, w/o Dolby it was clearly present. With Dolby B it was much reduced and very weak, but still detectable. With Dolby C it was practically not detectably.
All this is true for listening from my usual listening position. Of course when I come close to the speakers, the noise is better detectable resp. louder. But I wanted to check it in a normal listening situation.
So that means for me, that with an SNR of 76dB the noise is almost not detectable. Since every 6dB more, the noise level is down by half, I would think that anything over 82dB should be enough for real world listening, even of very quiet music rsp music with a wide dynamic range. With usual movie soundtracks, probably even less would be sufficient.
The conclusion would be that it is a moot point to argue for example a SNR of 92dB versus one of 102 dB, since both would be more than enough for letting noise disappear below the hearing threshold.
I invite discussion and other thoughts.
Hartwig