🚀 go-pugleaf

> Stewart Pinkerton wrote
>> EddieM wrote:
>>> Stewart Pinkerton wrote
>>>> EddieM wrote:
>>>>> Stewart Pinkerton wrote
>>>>>> calcerise wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Arny isn't too keen on actually listening to audio products, since
>>>>>> they should all sound the same according to tests.
>>>>>
>>>>> And indeed the good ones *do*, if we're talking about *listening*
>>>>> tests. I have a Sony CDP-715E, one of the best-performing players
>>>>> Sony ever made, although lacking the 'battleship' build of the XA7ES,
>>>>> I have access to a Meridian 588, probably the finest 'high tech' SOTA
>>>>> CD player on the planet, and I also own a Pioneer DV-575A 'universal'
>>>>> player that cost less than the quoted price of a new laser assembly
>>>>> for the XA7ES. In level-matched blind listening tests, these three
>>>>> players sound identical - as any reasonable person would expect.
>>>>
>>>>Any reasonable person would most likely also ask that ... when you
>>>>were performing a level-matched blind listening test among your
>>>>three cd players namely:
>>>>
>>>>1.   Sony CDP-715E
>>>>
>>>>2.   Meridian 588
>>>>
>>>>3.   Pioneer DV-575A
>>>>
>>>>Were you also comparing their sounds from each other?
>>>
>>> I have no idea what that means.
>>
>>I was wondering what exactly were you talking about  when you said
>>you did a *listening* test as you had mentioned above.  You said
>>that you did a *level-matched* blind listening test among the  3 players
>>and that towards the end, you concluded that all 3 sounded the same.
>>So I wonder how you carried out your test.  Did you listen separately or
>>did you made an active comparison using a switch during the test?
>
> Switched between two players at a time, (normally the Pioneer and any
> 'audiophile contender' nowadays, but the Meridian's been compared
> against both Pioneer and Sony), using identical CD-Rs synchronised as
> closely as possible, and with levels set to be the same +/- 0.1dB at
> the speaker terminals, using -20dB test tones at 20Hz, 1kHz and 10kHz.
> Since no statistically significant identification was possible, it
> seems that the synch was adequate!
>
>>And how would a person go about concluding with reasonable expectation
>>that all three players will sound identical without having made an active
>>comparison
>
> Irrelevant, given the existence of an 'active' comparison (whatever
> that's supposed to mean).  [...]


All I meant by that is whether you were actively making comparison between
the two or three player through a switching device during your test in order
to determine presence of subtle differences that may exist.

Why is that irrelevant for me to ask ?


> [...] OTOH, anyone with any understanding of the
> optics and electronics involved, would indeed expect that they would
> most likely sound identical, unless one had a serious problem. Here's
> a handy hint - many so-called 'high end' players *do* have serious
> design problems, for which you are charged a stratospheric price!


As you're saying above, assuming your good understanding of the optics
and electronics involved influences you to reasonably conclude that the
three players would sound identical, how would you prevent yourself from
reasonably expecting that the three players would sound different when
performing a listening test without doing such thing as active comparison
using a switch during the test ?

How does using a switching device prevent you from the influences that
the three unit would not sound identical --  ?



> -- 
>
> Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering