Dogs, Cats and SACDs

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Lord British

Well-known Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
197
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
My dog doesn't seem to have an issue, but I was wondering if any QQ'ers have pets that are negatively affected by the ultrasonic noise of SACD's? Just curious.
 

Attachments

  • 01BA2AD2-EEB5-46E7-9ECB-CD8995B0980C.jpeg
    01BA2AD2-EEB5-46E7-9ECB-CD8995B0980C.jpeg
    139.4 KB · Views: 138
My two pups seem to chill when they’re with me in my basement home theater and I’m crankin the surround jams. Ones a 75 pound lab/shepherd/husky mix and ones an 8 pound chihuahua.
 
Almost all of my classical music is on SACD, and my cat likes it. Especially Debussy. She usually falls asleep in my lap when I play La Mer. She doesn't care much for the Russian composers though, as there are too many bass drum whacks and cymbal crashes for her liking. She also doesn't like rock music or the roar of the MGM lion at the beginning of movies.

But DSD or SACD, not a problem.
 
We have a Maine Coon cat (huge) that loves loud surround music. Whenever we have a listening session he comes and sits at front of the room on the floor. Even when we have a few friends around (strangers to the cat) our cat joins in. It’s LOUD, party loud with two big subs too.

One day when I was on my own I had Beck Seachange BDA playing pretty load and found him sitting on the back of the couch in the perfect 7.1 sweet spot!

Our dogs freak out with the Pink Floyd’s Meddle track Seamus (with the dog barking)
 
Isn't the ultrasonic level well above the hearing level of pets as well as humans?

In addition to that, IIRC I believe all DSD to analog converters have a high pass filter that removes the frequencies that contain the noise. It has been a long time since I read the article in Stereophile. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Last edited:
Any reports of untrasonic noise artifacts would be a critique of the DA converters being used. Maybe someone had some jenky DSD converters when this rumor started. Or it was a couple one off masters with some rogue artifacts. DSD is every bit as good as HD PCM. The quality of your DA converters determine the quality you hear (weather it be DSD or PCM). When you hear one sounding obviously better than the other, look into the mastering. You're not hearing any difference between DSD and PCM due to one format being better than the other. They both can hold complete fidelity. Garbage in, garbage out still applies. (And HD in either format can't help when you deliver garbage.)

But even if you want to entertain fantasy that some ultrasonic artifacts affect the music or improve it - either with DSD or with HD PCM where the same claims are sometimes made about the importance of the artifacts above the range of hearing - your speakers aren't reproducing any of that whatsoever. So... heh... must be something else eh? And all happening in the audio band after all. :D
 
Isn't the ultrasonic level well above the hearing level of pets as well as humans?

In addition to that, IIRC I believe all DSD to analog converters have a high pass filter that removes the frequencies that contain the noise. It has been a long time since I read the article in Stereophile. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
I think you meant high cut (or low pass).

Yes they do. With HD sample rates being FAR away from the audio band, this is low key easy to do. The SD converters with the sample rate RIGHT next to the audio band need to use very steep low pass filters to filter the sample rate away. More difficult. This is why budget converters sound noticeably better at HD than SD sample rates (to the point that you can upsample a source and improve the sound). The more boutique DA units will give you better sound at SD. For both PCM and DSD.
 
Depends on the animal's personality. We have several cats. Some stay far away from the living room when I'm playing music; a couple will settle down on chair or coffee table and listen intently with twitchy ears (they seem to enjoy surround the most).
 
My pure German Shepherd (miss that girl) with her large ears acted like big radars, they would rotate towards sounds. Now my pure Australian Shepherd really notices discreetness in some titles. She, like me prefer some ping pong or swirl effects only at a minimum. She'll loose interest sometimes and really likes XTC or Tomita and stretches out next to me and enjoys the sweet spot.
 
The only things my two beagles can't get used to are new surround sound mixes, be they film or music. It makes them search for the sound. After awhile they get used to them.

I waited my entire life to hear The Beatles' "Revolution 9" in surround sound, and when I finally owned it, I couldn't play it for days. The younger beagle would flip out and start whining. (She also flipped out once at Yoko Ono going "aaa....aaa...aaa...." on "Two Virgins". She tried to climb up the speaker to get at the tweeter....)
 
Our dog does not react any different to music on SACD than he does to any other music. He likes it. He prefers 60's-70's rock. We have to leave music playing for him when he is left alone. So he doesn't hear outside noises that upset him. His nickname is Pretty Boy Sissy Pants.
Arlo on ottoman.jpg
 
We have a Maine Coon cat (huge) that loves loud surround music. Whenever we have a listening session he comes and sits at front of the room on the floor. Even when we have a few friends around (strangers to the cat) our cat joins in. It’s LOUD, party loud with two big subs too.

One day when I was on my own I had Beck Seachange BDA playing pretty load and found him sitting on the back of the couch in the perfect 7.1 sweet spot!

Our dogs freak out with the Pink Floyd’s Meddle track Seamus (with the dog barking)
Mademoiselle Nobbs
 
Back
Top