Audiophile Test!

[E-Stat]

... and used only a small portion of the audio - specifically the music and not the vocals)... The second time I substanially improved my score...

I found the most telling way was to listen to the guitar. Just after she sings "car", there is a crisp two step transient chord. The more distorted it is, the "fatter" and less crisp they sound. More muddled. At the first three high distortion levels, however, you can tell after hearing the first two seconds.

1) Are distortions in vocals more obvious than distortions in other sounds?

In this case, I would say no. I heard very little in the way of harmonic content with Tracy's voice.

2) Since it appears that we can actually train ourselves to become more sensitive to distortions and subtle musical differences (become audiophiles), the question arises of whether it's a goal we should really aim to achieve...

Not as an end goal, but I find that the ability to find little sonic jewels in musical pieces lends depth to the overall enjoyment.

Do you have Dido's first album No Angel? There is a neat little synthesized riff that first appears at 0:32, again at 0:43 and repeats a couple of times every three seconds before Dido begins singing. It is a "springy" little sound that goes kinda like "boint".

rw