Sanity Check

[Ron Scubadiver]

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

 

Next time you have a GAS attack, go to the above link for a sanity check.  It's a blind test where one side was a cheap class AB amp, $5 interconnects and a consumer disk player.   The other side was some expensive audiophile gear.  There was no statistically significant preference for either setup.  They don't mention this, but the level controls on the A500 are known to measure terribly, and they had to be used because there was no line stage in use.

 

I read so much BS related to this hobby.  The two most inflammatory subjects these days are wires/cables/interconnects and MQA.  Who do you believe?  Your money might be better spent taking your honey out to dinner.

 

 

[Ron Scubadiver]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

Is the A500 you mention the Behringer A500 power amp, that can be had for less than $200?

Yes.

 

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

Some well meaning and knowledgeable audiophiles and writers (Peter Aczel, for one) have taken the stand that all correctly operating modern solid-state power amps should sound exactly the same when operated within each amp's normal parameters (I.E. not clipping). I feel that our experiments that Sunday show conclusively that differences in amplifiers - even contemporary ones with similar specifications, do exist, but in the final analysis, these differences are not that great, and ultimately not really all that important. 

 

 

 

 

 

The only real problem that I know of with the A500 is it lacks relays, so it has turn on and off transient noises.

 

[Ron Scubadiver]

15 minutes ago, GUTB said:

Yes the famous chair test that gets trotted out by hardcore objectivists. The test was interesting but not for the purposes of proving the sameness of audio gear but rather how the stress of these kinds of tests degrades people's listening discernment. Unless you are a serious non-audiophile of the most toxic sort you can at least admit amps and DACs can sound significantly different from one another.

I must be toxic, because the only time I ever heard a significant difference was when an aging unit which was undoubtedly in need of major work was replaced with something new.  As for the stress argument, it is the one raised the most often by those opposed to blind testing. I have never seen so much as a quantum of proof that is going on.

 

It's possible to screw up a blind test with bad source material.  

 

I am a firm believer the differences in speakers overwhelm the differences in everything else put together in a digital playback chain.  Life is different in vinyl land.  Bad recordings sound bad no matter what and probably sound better on $5 earbuds while riding mass transit.

[Ron Scubadiver]

36 minutes ago, gmgraves said:

That depends upon your definition of "significantly different". One person might say that the difference between two components might be night and day with one being audio nirvana while the other is pure excrement. Another listener might find those same differences inconsequential.

That, an important insight.  However, often folks around here use descriptions which seem exaggerated.  Things like the sound was "congested" or the sound stage "collapsed".  The only time I hear big changes is when I switch from one recording which doesn't sound so great, to one which is great. 

[Ron Scubadiver]

1 hour ago, Spacehound said:

As we are striving for 'perfection':

 

The more money you spend the more all equipment should sound the same.

That assumes everyone is working towards the exact same thing, which I sincerely doubt.

[Ron Scubadiver]

1 hour ago, semente said:

 

Vinyl cartridges are transducers, just like speakers, and affect the reproduction just as much.

True, and I did cover that possibility in passing.  There are lots of issues with vinyl.  

[Ron Scubadiver]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

Most people say their goal is accurate reproduction.

I agree that is what they say, but people have different ideas about what that means.  There are those who want to produce a pleasing sound with pleasant distortions.  Some strive for a highly detailed sound.

[Ron Scubadiver]

27 minutes ago, mansr said:

That's not necessarily accurate. Nevertheless, that's still what they say they want.

 

This usually means emphasised high frequencies or high-order harmonic distortion. In other words, not accurate. Once again, however, the adherents claim they are getting accuracy.

 

In other words, what people think they want and what they actually like are not necessarily related.

That is an important insight.