I agree that no-one can hear -132dB and anyone who claim that they can is...nuffink wrote:not at -132dB they don't. Brownian motion in the air particles makes more noise than that.Bennett wrote: Gray area: Some "golden ears" still hear differences in these effectively digitally identical mixes.
The fact of the matter is that some of the "golden ears" of the recording industry have shown consistent ability to discern differences in mixes which by by all rights should be identical or imperceptable. Admittedly there is very little hard scientific testing to support this.
There are some psychoacoustic theories on why this happens. Things like additional sound field information present in low levels which are not audible, but have an effect on the spatial presentation of the sounds in the mix, etc.
Some factors which I think people perceive as differences are the fact that the digital mix levels differ from host to host and audio card to audio card. For example -6 dBFS in Logic may not be in SX. Lets say Cubase's is actually -5.8dBFS. The Cubase track would sound "better" as it is slightly louder. The testing which was done by 3dB Audio made sure to normalize the host to host variables by using calibrated reference tracks.
What I do know from firsthand experience (I have owned and used Logic, SX, PT LE, and Tracktion) is that to my ears there is any real difference in the quality of digital mix that each provides. There are definite differences in the quality of the effects, but that is entirely different than the the digital summing of the buss. I am not claiming to be a "golden ear" though.
