Transducers dominate perceived sound quality more than other chain components

Evidence

Historically, the bottleneck in audio quality has been the storing and transmission systems, such as gramophones, vinyl players, and cassette decks. The concept of high fidelity was developed to measure and minimize different deviations from perfect responses, such as linear and non-linear distortions. Nowadays, digital transmission has practically removed such problems, and currently the biggest bottlenecks are the microphones and loudspeakers. However, new challenges have emerged with perceptually based lossy audio codecs. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2360 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

All dimensions perceived in the performed listening tests correspond with features extracted from the sound pressure response of the diffuse and direct field at the listener’s position. There was no hint of a relation to phase response or to nonlinear distortion. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 711 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Digital audio storage is lossless yet still requires analogue transducers at the human interface; Timbral neutrality drives 69.5 percent of sound-quality preference; Audio quality bottlenecks shifted from storage to transducers — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2360 (+6 more)

Related

• Digital audio storage is lossless yet still requires analogue transducers at the human interface (similarity 0.89)
• Audio quality bottlenecks shifted from storage to transducers (similarity 0.88)
• Timbral neutrality drives 69.5 percent of sound-quality preference (similarity 0.84)
• Perceived loudspeaker sound quality depends only on amplitude responses (similarity 0.83)
• Spatial richness in multichannel sound inhibits perception of loudspeaker resonances (similarity 0.82)
• Traditional distortion specs fail to predict perceived sound quality (similarity 0.82)
• 16-bit CD resolution suffices for most delivery despite 24-bit studio benefits (similarity 0.81)
• Distortion rarely drives subjective ratings of consumer loudspeakers (similarity 0.81)
• Sound quality is judged as deviations from ideal amounts of perceptual dimensions (similarity 0.81)
• Sound quality means judged preferability, not category membership (similarity 0.81)
• Timbral quality dominates perceived sound quality over spatial reproduction (similarity 0.80)
• Flattening sound power via bass-shy or treble-hot designs harms perceived quality (similarity 0.80)
• Audio content is defined by meaning to a listener, not technical properties (similarity 0.80)
• Discrete quadraphonic LP technology improved conventional two-channel record quality. (similarity 0.80)
• Sound reproduction quality depends on both physical acoustics and human perception (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Audio quality bottlenecks shifted from storage to transducers #corroborates (0.85) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2360
• Distortion rarely drives subjective ratings of consumer loudspeakers #corroborates (0.85)
• Perceived loudspeaker sound quality depends only on amplitude responses #contradicts (0.80) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 711
• Traditional distortion specs fail to predict perceived sound quality #corroborates (0.80)
• Anechoic on-axis and sound power responses suffice to predict perceived loudspeaker quality #qualifies (0.75) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1292
• Low-frequency room resonances drive roughly 30 percent of perceived sound quality #exemplifies (0.75)