DAC Comparisons using AI

@yesiam_a_pirate 

Just for fun imagine you wanted to gather comparative data on a relatively unknown product and one that is that is heavily sponsored in mainline audio magazines, you tube videos, social media, etc. via a big budget.  Paid reviews. Guess which one AI is going to highlight? 

Agreed. Big tech are not investing billions in AI just to help us, they see this as an investment with huge potential profits, and that is in the form of more ads and steering the consumer in particular directions. And the gullible will think the results are "unbiased because it is not a human". 

I have used AI when it comes to my system in two mains ways and that’s evolving. 1. I used it to compare upgrade paths from my current speaker and had it lay out the differences.

and 2. I correct my room with the use of REW measurements that I upload to ChatGPT and together I get my dual subs dialed in rather nicely, phase, placement, gain and crossover. In that regard it’s been really good at interpreting the graphs and letting me know that everything is in balance and at least set up correctly and then I listen to confirm. 

OK SO ai can be helpful sometimes, but here is why it cannot help with audio quality as written my a chat bot:

 

What is AI?

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is computer software designed to recognize patterns in large amounts of data and generate responses that sound intelligent. It doesn’t think, feel, or understand the world the way people do. Instead, it predicts what words, images, or outputs are most likely to make sense based on everything it has been trained on.

 

In simple terms:

AI is very advanced pattern-matching software.

 

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Why AI Can’t Judge Listening Quality

 

When it comes to topics like sound quality, music reproduction, or how something “sounds,” AI has an important limitation:

 

AI cannot hear.

 

It does not have ears.

It does not experience sound waves.

It does not perceive tone, depth, warmth, imaging, or dynamics.

 

What AI can do is:

 

• Explain audio concepts (e.g., frequency response, distortion, soundstage).

• Summarize expert opinions.

• Compare specifications.

• Describe common listener impressions reported by humans.

 

 

What it cannot do is:

 

• Personally evaluate your system.

• Hear differences between two amplifiers.

• Judge whether your speakers sound “better” after an upgrade.

 

 

Any opinion it provides about listening quality is based on reported data and common human descriptions — not direct sensory experience.

Regarding critiques of AI – ask yourself: Have I learned anything about how to prompt AI?

If the answer is "no," then it might be better to try that before declaring a final judgment about AI.

[Of course, AI has huge environmental implications, but since that is an "ethical" issue, it's verboten on Audiogon. Let's not bring ethics into the topic. Best to keep it on the side and remain "happy."]

I hope everyone knows that the audio responses from AI are sourced from places like Audiogon. This response will not show up today in the input to an AI LLM model, unless an AI agent is adding to the already prepared LLM (unlikely).

When the next LLM model for your favorite AL comes out this post will have been read into it. In the past the big passes needed to make the bases for a future release would take almost a year to run.

I consider audio AI an intelligent search into all the audio posts done online.