Anyone heard of this challenge?

michaeljhsda2

http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/index.htm

Mike

zingo

Very interesting...

Face

Contact info is down, oh well.

gidrah

I've skimmed it before. What speakers again?

skipf

Ummmmm, BS. I had the opportunity to hook up Bob Carver's new tube monoblocks to my rig in place of my Silver 9t's. Trust me, you can hear a difference. If you don't believe me, ask Treitz3, TNRabbit, F1nut or Engtaz. They all heard the difference too. We can't all be wrong or not hearing properly.

bikezappa

The publisher of The Audio Critic has been saying the same thing for 20 years also.

He also says the same ABX test will apply to most CD players.

mantis

You know blind tests are fun. I have conducted so many of these over the years and some people can and some can't.

Most of the time when comparing quality gear to others, it's difficult to hear the differences. Most of the time it's very close. Sometimes it's not.

When testing out speakers, this is the easiest to hear a difference. Most speakers don't sound like anything else except others in there lines. Receivers do sound different. Just about anyone can hear that. Wire and power amps it gets harder. years ago when the Rotel RMB1095 came out, I was working at Soundex. We compared it to the Krell Theater Standard amp. Both amps performed extremely well running a full 5 channel Martin Logan speaker system , then a full 5 channel Wilson system using a Krell theater Standard Preamp. All wires where Transparent. It wasn't until we ran the volume up to reference did we hear a huge difference in clarity and dynamic range. The Krell amp started to open up and have unbelievable Dynamics over the Rotel powerhouse. But at low volumes, it's was hard to hear the difference. The Krell sonic signature did show up until we cranked it.

Wire is also hard to tell, the sonic differences is sometimes exactly the same. I have tested so much wire that I should be seeing someone about my problem. But I remember sitting there listening to 4 different analog stereo pairs and I was shocked how different they sounded. They all played the music but some made certain sounds stand out more then others. I remember my loved Monstercable M950i's missing mid range when compared to the Transparent music links. I was shocked in the difference.

People can argue back and forth which is right wrong or indifferent, I say of you don't listen for yourself and make up your own mind, you will never truly know. No one can really tell you there is a difference or not if you can or can't hear it. It's all that matters anyway. When you are sitting in your listening chair, it's you and the system. Not any of us.

Dan

exalted512

That challenge has been around for years. If the contact info is down, google Richard Clark, hes not hard to find.
-Cody

Face

Very well said Dan, some of those experiences are similar to mine.