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?

And how would a person go about concluding with reasonable expectation
that all three players will sound identical without having made an active
comparison




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Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering