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The end of the article makes a very good point: > The New York City study also showed that listeners' preferences correlated with their assessment of projectio

The end of the article makes a very good point: > The New York City study also showed that listeners' preferences correlated with their assessment of projection, suggesting the loudness of an instrument may be a primary factor in the quality of its sound. It is well known that equal loudness is crucial for nuanced A-B testing with sound and often a PITA to get right. (and vice versa, PR A-B tests of some audio "enhancers" or simply toggling the ones of your soundcard often use this trick and nodge up volume a bit with effects on)

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago
For anyone unfamiliar, human frequency response changes with volume: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour
_greim_ 9y ago
Agreed. It's further complicated by subjective loudness not being a simple function of sound pressure level. So, if you adjust two signals to equal subjective loudness in an AB test, is it really a fair test?
jackhack 9y ago
I make acoustic guitars from scratch. There's an old joke in the luthier community about customer preference : "give 'em a choice between volume and tone, and they'll pick volume every time." It's funny because it's often true. The loud guitars sell first. Then again, it may depend on your market. A solo performer can sacrifice a lot of volume for a tone that matches their expectations. A performer who plays in a bluegrass band with a fiddle and a banjo needs every db they can get. But this is the acoustic instrument market. Electric is a different world altogether.
- psychometry 9y ago
  Your typical bluegrass guitarist probably cares more about volume than most others because bluegrass bands still insist on crowding around a single mic for some reason.
  - nsxwolf 9y ago
    It wouldn't look right if they didn't.
    - psychometry 9y ago
      Sure, put an omni mic in the middle, but give them all pickups or instrument picks, too.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago

For anyone unfamiliar, human frequency response changes with volume: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

_greim_ 9y ago

Agreed. It's further complicated by subjective loudness not being a simple function of sound pressure level. So, if you adjust two signals to equal subjective loudness in an AB test, is it really a fair test?

jackhack 9y ago

I make acoustic guitars from scratch. There's an old joke in the luthier community about customer preference : "give 'em a choice between volume and tone, and they'll pick volume every time." It's funny because it's often true. The loud guitars sell first. Then again, it may depend on your market. A solo performer can sacrifice a lot of volume for a tone that matches their expectations. A performer who plays in a bluegrass band with a fiddle and a banjo needs every db they can get. But this is the acoustic instrument market. Electric is a different world altogether.

psychometry 9y ago
Your typical bluegrass guitarist probably cares more about volume than most others because bluegrass bands still insist on crowding around a single mic for some reason.
- nsxwolf 9y ago
  It wouldn't look right if they didn't.
  - psychometry 9y ago
    Sure, put an omni mic in the middle, but give them all pickups or instrument picks, too.