Comment by amouat

> I'm no sound engineer, but as far as I can tell, the main point of that paper is that some instruments produce harmonics at frequencies greater than 20kHz, not that these frequencies matter to humans. However, section X references other papers that apparently make this claim.

Yes, you're right.

In fact, some of the section X references don't even mention hearing, they talk about "alpha-EEG rhytms" (in this case "listeners explicitly denied that the reproduced sound was affected by the ultra-tweeter") and "bone-conducted ultrasonic hearing" trough the "saccule" ("organ that responds to acceleration and gravity and may be responsible for transduction of sound after destruction of the cochlea").

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In fact, most of the claims of the article are around the fact that there is energy over 20khz and how it can affect recording process.

This is a well known fact, and this is exactly why engineers filter out sub-sonic and super-sonic frequencies, especially today: stuff that you can't hear (or feel) will just suck your headroom and make you lose the loudness war.

The only "good sounding" triangles you'll hear are those buried in a mix. Alone, it always sounds weird and "muted".

EDIT: Listen to the triangle at the beginning of Rush's YYZ. It's an old recording, but it sounds significantly worse than the analog version. It's been digitally mastered some time ago so if it was mastered today, it would probably sound better, but still not great. I heard a rumor that Rush is remastering all their albums "for iTunes" at the moment, so hopefully we'll be able to compare soon!