Question: Sony HU's SNR stats...

[Matt Bhame]

OK, Sony Xplod, specifically their 120dB CD SNR stat far exceeds
competitors in the inexpensive price points. How is Sony able to do this
when others don't?

[MZ]

> OK, Sony Xplod, specifically their 120dB CD SNR stat far exceeds
> competitors in the inexpensive price points. How is Sony able to do this
> when others don't?

I'm not so sure they're being entirely forthcoming with their ratings.
Anyway, humans can't hear the difference between a S/N of 120dB and probably
about 80dB in a car anyway.

[Matt Bhame]

> I'm not so sure they're being entirely forthcoming with their ratings.
> Anyway, humans can't hear the difference between a S/N of 120dB and
> probably about 80dB in a car anyway.
>
>
So you're saying anything past a SNR of 80dB is worthless?

[Les]

"Matt Bhame" > wrote in message > >
> So you're saying anything past a SNR of 80dB is worthless?
>


Essentially they are. It then becomes a numbers game with different
manufactures. So basically after ~80dB you have reached the point of
diminishing returns.

Les

[MZ]

> > I'm not so sure they're being entirely forthcoming with their ratings.
> > Anyway, humans can't hear the difference between a S/N of 120dB and
> > probably about 80dB in a car anyway.
> >
> >
> So you're saying anything past a SNR of 80dB is worthless?

Well, 80dB is an estimate (it could be more, could be less). But I think
you've got the gist.

Bear in mind that there are primarily three limiting factors at play here.
First, our ability to hear sounds at a certain dynamic range is severely
limited by masking effects. This essentially creates a threshold at which
we can't hear noise levels -80dB (or whatever) below program material. This
of course is going to depend on the frequency content of the signal, the
absolute output level, and so forth.

Second, a car is obviously a noisy environment. Road noise SEVERELY limits
our ability to detect quiet noises. I would guesstimate that, when driving
on the highway or having the AC blower on, etc, this limits our threshold so
much that you can introduce noise at extremely high levels and not be able
to detect it.

Third, noise resulting from signals in the power line and even minor ground
loops oftentimes exceeds the S/N of the equipment. So the bottleneck, so to
speak, is the car's electrical system, and not the equipment itself. In
fact, some equipment is more prone to noise than others, and this is not
reflected in S/N ratings.

All in all, I would ignore what are, in effect, indistinguishable
differences in S/N ratings.

[Hunter]

Last I heard , CD's are 105 s/n ... yeah all a numbers games