I Thought I Understood Distortion… I Didn’t

Today we're running a simple listening experiment. Can you actually hear harmonic distortion when it's only a few percent? How about 5 or 10% Think you can hear that? In this video I play a series of clips and ask you to decide which one is distorted before revealing the results and exploring what distortion really sounds like when played back through speakers in a real room. Grab a good pair of headphones if you can and see how you do. Most of us imagine distortion as something obvious — buzzing, crackling, or harsh breakup. But when distortion levels are low, it can be surprisingly difficult to identify… especially once sound interacts with real speakers and a real listening environment. Along the way we'll compare clean reference clips, distorted signals, and recordings of speakers in a room to better understand what we're actually hearing — and why distortion measurements don't always tell the whole story about how a system sounds. Welcome back to New Record Day. 00:00 - Start 02:14 - Can You Hear Me Now? 03:03 - Test Two 05:23 - The Room 07:09 - Bass Overload 08:27 - Results 10:16 - Perception Priority 13:35 - Final Thoughts If you consider yourself an audiophile or music lover… welcome home. Check this one out: 👉 https://youtu.be/mjQ2Wy24wC4?si=HGGrIk6wKvgDRan9 💎💎💎 Speakers reviewed and recommend! 💎💎💎 Bookshelf: Elac Unifi 2.0: https://amzn.to/2OrL5RW Elac UB5: https://amzn.to/3qo2msU Elac Debut 2.0: https://amzn.to/3uVfWar Elac Debut Reference: https://amzn.to/2OnQU2W SVS Ultra: https://amzn.to/3uXIkZJ JBL Studio 530: https://amzn.to/3uVagNL Floorstanding: Q Acoustics Concept 500: https://amzn.to/3ddGkEx SVS Ultra: https://amzn.to/3qo2msU SVS Prime Pinnacle: https://amzn.to/2MMYt2J Elac Debut 2.0: https://amzn.to/3ruZRX7 Elac Unifi 2.0 UF52: https://amzn.to/3uXJa8P Elac UF5: https://amzn.to/3e9ri4F Triangle Borea Bro 8: https://adorama.rfvk.net/Ygg9oO PSB Alpha T20: https://amzn.to/3uS2swa ⭐️ Follow NRD ⭐️ https://www.instagram.com/newrecordday/​ https://www.facebook.com/NewRecordDay/​ https://twitter.com/nrdreviews​ 💪🏻 Support NRD 💪🏻 https://www.patreon.com/newrecordday​ Donate via Paypal: sales@newrecordday.com Disclaimer: The links provided are amazon affiliate links: I earn a small commission on purchases at no additional cost to you! I use the funds to help grow the channel, investing in better equipment for the reviews and video production! Thank you!