Free Pocket Class A Headamp for Best Ears
I hope more folks participate in the poll. I can see a minimum of 21 file downloads for the sound clips. I bet I can make this a bit more exciting and encourage participation and critical listening skills. Whoever can guess the most amps correctly, will get a free fully-built and tested Pocket Class A headamp as a prize. The caveat is that they need to identifiy at least 4 of sound clips and its respective amp correctly and put their answer in writing (not posted in the open) but sent to me as a PM before the poll closes. Keep a copy of the PM and time stamp for proof. The moderators and their friends and family are of course, not allowed to participate as they have been given the answer key.
As background - on my speaker driver threads there have been people with golden ears who have identified 8 out of 8 blind test drivers correctly.
In the event that there is a tie, person who submitted answer first wins based on PM timestamp. Runner up gets a free Pocket Class a headamp PCB.
I hope more folks participate in the poll. I can see a minimum of 21 file downloads for the sound clips. I bet I can make this a bit more exciting and encourage participation and critical listening skills. Whoever can guess the most amps correctly, will get a free fully-built and tested Pocket Class A headamp as a prize. The caveat is that they need to identifiy at least 4 of sound clips and its respective amp correctly and put their answer in writing (not posted in the open) but sent to me as a PM before the poll closes. Keep a copy of the PM and time stamp for proof. The moderators and their friends and family are of course, not allowed to participate as they have been given the answer key.
As background - on my speaker driver threads there have been people with golden ears who have identified 8 out of 8 blind test drivers correctly.
In the event that there is a tie, person who submitted answer first wins based on PM timestamp. Runner up gets a free Pocket Class a headamp PCB.
I look forward to participating in the poll when I have a bit to sit down and quietly listen and compare over my nearfield monitor setup. I may try over headphones too, but my my speakers are much more accurate and resolving.
To those naysayers who contend that the sound signatures of our listening gear will be getting in the way of this test--you are correct. But as X has mentioned, as long as we hold that variable constant, we should be able to detect differences anyway, and I think that these differences are valid and useful. One caveat is the issue of synergy... The sound signatures of our own gear interacting with the recorded sound signatures of the different amps might cause us to form opinions of these amps that we might not necessarily form if we listened to the amp itself through headphones.
To illustrate the usefulness of an exercise like this, however, I'll point to a similar blind A/B test conducted via SoundPure, a recording gear retailer, in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUqsQrr-RTI They used this test as a way to market a Neve preamp clone, which I guess they thought sounded very similar to the real thing. Participants were supposed to listen to the same guitar performance recorded through a real Neve and the clone (high resolution sound clips were available on their website, too, as I recall) and then e-mail listening impressions to the SoundPure marketing guy. Pretty smart way to hook customers, IMO. Anyway, I was clearly able to identify that one of the two recordings contained a much sweeter (bell-like?) harmonic profile, and when I e-mailed my impressions to SoundPure, the guy replied that I preferred the true vintage Neve.
Long story short--differences in amplification can be captured in recordings, and can be apparent even through the sound signatures of the equipment used to listen to these recordings.
To those naysayers who contend that the sound signatures of our listening gear will be getting in the way of this test--you are correct. But as X has mentioned, as long as we hold that variable constant, we should be able to detect differences anyway, and I think that these differences are valid and useful. One caveat is the issue of synergy... The sound signatures of our own gear interacting with the recorded sound signatures of the different amps might cause us to form opinions of these amps that we might not necessarily form if we listened to the amp itself through headphones.
To illustrate the usefulness of an exercise like this, however, I'll point to a similar blind A/B test conducted via SoundPure, a recording gear retailer, in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUqsQrr-RTI They used this test as a way to market a Neve preamp clone, which I guess they thought sounded very similar to the real thing. Participants were supposed to listen to the same guitar performance recorded through a real Neve and the clone (high resolution sound clips were available on their website, too, as I recall) and then e-mail listening impressions to the SoundPure marketing guy. Pretty smart way to hook customers, IMO. Anyway, I was clearly able to identify that one of the two recordings contained a much sweeter (bell-like?) harmonic profile, and when I e-mailed my impressions to SoundPure, the guy replied that I preferred the true vintage Neve.
Long story short--differences in amplification can be captured in recordings, and can be apparent even through the sound signatures of the equipment used to listen to these recordings.
I listened and voted, though after more listening a few hours later, I realize my initial vote was a bit off. I'm not going to say either way until the poll is over, etc.
Now as to figuring out which is which, beyond a wild guess, I don't know. But I am quite interested to find out!
Thank you X for taking the time to put these tests together, clips, polls, etc. It's a fantastic way to not only 'audition' different gear, but a nice exercise in critical listening and analytical evaluation. At least it is for me!
Now as to figuring out which is which, beyond a wild guess, I don't know. But I am quite interested to find out!
Thank you X for taking the time to put these tests together, clips, polls, etc. It's a fantastic way to not only 'audition' different gear, but a nice exercise in critical listening and analytical evaluation. At least it is for me!
I don't think it's hard to hear - quite obvious if you know how to listen. Your gear is up to it that's for sure. Listen to short 7 second passage over and over. Put clips on a playlist so you can jump back and forth to AB them instantly. Listen for changes in articulation, attack, pressure of bass wave, overall sensation of smoothness, sibillance, fatigue, but easiest of all is simply what is most enjoyable over and over.
Well sir what it tells me I have crappy hearing...LOL.
Been doing blind listening for years and I have done exactly that played similar 7 seconds or so over and over over....they all sound about the same....which is fine to me.
I'll bet that when you publish which amp is associated with what file our subjective side will kick in and say "hey I can hear differences...now"....again big smile here.
My gut tells me most "good" amps, "well designed", with good specs....beyond human hearing probably sound pretty good...
I wonder if you throw in a tube amp like the Crack would I hear differences......I do hear between my SS amps and the crack with the T1's...
Alex
Been doing blind listening for years and I have done exactly that played similar 7 seconds or so over and over over....they all sound about the same....which is fine to me.
I'll bet that when you publish which amp is associated with what file our subjective side will kick in and say "hey I can hear differences...now"....again big smile here.
My gut tells me most "good" amps, "well designed", with good specs....beyond human hearing probably sound pretty good...
I wonder if you throw in a tube amp like the Crack would I hear differences......I do hear between my SS amps and the crack with the T1's...
Alex
I downloaded and listened and could barely tell any difference at all. Then I listened to the reference track and it sounds really poor - in particular hardly any depth but also the HF sounds like its been mashed up by going through a really bad S-D DAC. Which mp3 encoder did you use X?
I went over to Amazon to see if they allowed sampling this track but they don't - the reviews are pretty much all saying what an awesome demo disk this is for audiophiles but I'm not getting that at all.
I went over to Amazon to see if they allowed sampling this track but they don't - the reviews are pretty much all saying what an awesome demo disk this is for audiophiles but I'm not getting that at all.
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I downloaded and listened to them yesterday evening. Imac> Pure music+itunes> toslink to TC electronic BMC-2 , Sennheiser HD 600. Apart from file B ( which i though had been changed in first post but later found the correct one a few posts down) I thought differences were small and I was hard pressed to say which one i would prefer. I kept going back and forth thinking, hear that cymbal decay on this one, really nice, yes but vocal is better projected on that one, aah nice bass on third one, aha, percussion on this one etc etc. BTW, I have never heard any of these amps before so don't count me in to say which is which.
Admittedly i was quite tired yesterday evening so i will repeat listening sometime when fresh. I would also like to hear how it would sound in room on my tannoy actives, not on headphones like yesterday.
Anyway thanks for uploading this, it's interesting. I used to think test like these were just b*ll*ck$ but since discovering Kenrick audio channel i changed my mind.
Admittedly i was quite tired yesterday evening so i will repeat listening sometime when fresh. I would also like to hear how it would sound in room on my tannoy actives, not on headphones like yesterday.
Anyway thanks for uploading this, it's interesting. I used to think test like these were just b*ll*ck$ but since discovering Kenrick audio channel i changed my mind.
Since I have these headamps in front of me, I just discovered that they make great preamps to drive my 100w class AB power amp and speakers. And yes, you can hear a difference with and without and between different ones. In general, the significantly upgrade the sound quality from the speakers. Bringing new resolution and depth. Some amps really make a HUGE difference in how good the power amp and speakers sound now.
I am using Vzaichenko's VHEX+ and my ScanSpeak 10F/8424-Dayton RS225-8 FAST speakers with passive transient perfect 1st order XO.
I am using Vzaichenko's VHEX+ and my ScanSpeak 10F/8424-Dayton RS225-8 FAST speakers with passive transient perfect 1st order XO.
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Cool idea. In my kitchen I have a little boombox I built with full-range Aurasound drivers and a Sure Tripath amp board inside. Paul Carmody's design. I have noticed that it sounds nice when the amp input is driven above line level. I usually feed it straight from my portable DAP, but I want to try your Pocket Class A amp in the signal chain just for kicks...
You will hear an immediate improvement in sound quality if your system is capable of more than what it is currently being driven by.
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