Many definitions were changed to be more easily understood by the average enthusiast, not by scientists and engineers. This article is intended as a high-level overview of distortion described in lay terms. For the rest of you, let’s dig a bit deeper into distortion and explain why my statement is true. You may now disregard the rest of this article, take heart in the good sound of your system, and sit back and enjoy the music. Believe it or not, that statement is generally true as far as distortion is concerned (the exception being linear distortion in the low frequencies). Let me start by making this article very short for most of you with one simple statement: Today’s audio and theater systems have distortion levels that are so low, they’re a complete non-issue. Many of you may be wondering: What’s THD? What’s distortion? What is linear vs non-linear distortion? And does any of it matter? Here’s a hint: it’s a numbers game that’s generally meaningless to anything other than a measurement device. My sympathies to anyone that’s engaged in this kind of unhelpful desktop drag racing. Or, my speakers are flat to 15 Hz, yours are only flat to 20 Hz. That is, my component has 10-fold less distortion than your component, as yours is. Image: Copyright Charles Rodrigues estateReaders of any number of home theater and audio review magazines have surely seen reference to the term distortion, for example: “This component has lower distortion than that component.” The topic has been a major focus of audio performance measurement and, unfortunately, has become the basis for a lot of desktop drag racing competitions.
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