What is Your Test for Comparing Two Audio Components?

[bonzo75]

But I think it takes more time to notice something that is missing.

If one does not have the right type of recordings which between them should cover things to look out for, and/or they don’t have the experience what to look out for.

In house it takes more time due to set up. Bringing in something and setting it up correctly takes a lot of time, usually months, not listening to what it is doing when set up properly. Unless you listen to only a few audiophile records, then maybe 6 months later you will realise damn this thing sounds sh@t on an original Decca orchestra.

Set up should not be confused with listening

 

[exupgh12]

Hearing differences between loudspeakers is not nearly as challenging as deciding on less obvious changes. Initial impressions with subtle yet important changes require time, as others have been saying. I have very little faith in short-term A-B testing. I've changed my mind many times after living with a change for a week or two. The results are worthwhile, carefully implemented small differences along the way add up to big gains.

Have you ever positioned a speaker thinking you found the perfect spot, only to discover a better (or worse) location a week later? It's the same with new equipment - something I love initially might grow on me even more, or sometimes less, after living with it longer. Of course, this is just my experience - everyone's different, and ultimately I'm the one who has to be happy with the final result.

 

[exupgh12]

I'm not suggesting blind A/B tests, but a thoughtful approach is to use consistent music samples and make as objective an assessment as possible. I certainly don't advocate acting on impulse. Personally I just want to eliminate as much bias, emotion and external influence as possible.

I own one watch. Bought it about 4 or 5 years ago. It's by a watchmaker I met a long time ago. I made the decision to buy the watch quickly, in about half an hour - 7 years before I actually bought it.

I don't let money get in the way either. That seems a big factor in decisions. I sometimes get the feeling some people buy things because they think they are getting a good deal rather than for what the product may bring them in terms of enjoyment. Some people's houses (often wardrobes) are full of stuff they bought because it was a good deal, but they have never used.

If I have a budget of, say, $10,000 (and my budgets are well below what I can afford), I won't consider anything over $10,000. So I never have the thought if it is too expensive or poor value. If I were then to buy something for $5,000, then it's a bonus, but price has not affected my decision. As for buying on credit, I've refused to sell things to people who said they were borrowing money to do so. I don't know how people can think it's worth getting in to debt for the sake of 0.1% better sound quality. Maybe I'm biased, I'm not Mr Moneybags, but I have no debt at all.

As someone who has collected watches and ridden motorcycles, I've learned that audio systems are fundamentally different from these other hobbies. A watch, car, house, or boat functions as a complete unit on its own - it doesn't need to work seamlessly with other components to perform well.

In the past, I used to choose audio equipment quickly, making decisions in just minutes based on whether I liked something or not. However, over time I've come to understand that even good or excellent equipment doesn't stand alone in an audio system - each piece is just one part of the larger 'machine.'

That's why I now prefer to take my time when making audio decisions, considering how each component will work together with the rest of my system.

 

[audiobomber]

There's an interesting article on listening tests at Alpha Audio:

https://www.alpha-audio.net/background/on-listening-tests-double-blind-or-not/

 

[Tangram]

I’m in the “woo woo” camp on this one. Which piece keeps me listening well into the night when I should be getting some shut-eye? Like others, I have my favourite test tracks, which are usually well-recorded but more importantly, very familiar to me. Since mood tends to play a role in my musical enjoyment, I’ll take a month or so (in theory past the honeymoon period) to decide but if I consistently find myself saying “wow, this sounds really good”, I know I have a winner. I agree with Ron - it’s harder to nail down what’s missing - a relatively high degree of familiarity with a piece of gear’s sound is required for me to determine this. The final test is when I’m thinking of an upcoming listening session and I find myself more focused on music selection than gear sound dissection.

 

[A-Line]

It's always give & take on a small scale in the fine tuning process. Have to find your "happy point". Just my casual observations..

I auditioned around 40 different preamps from 2007-2011 before finding "the one"...

I never once thought that it would be that difficult to find a preamp to match my McIntosh MC2102 tube amplifier.

I was attempting to add digital as a format to a dedicated digital playback setup. My first CD player was a McIntosh MCD201, sold it in 2010 then on to my 2nd CD player MCD500. Both of those CD players had a independent volume control which allowed for CD player connection straight to my Stax headphone tube energizer then to my amp.

I wanted to add a tuner, that's where my dilemma came in, finding a preamp that would take my CD player to the next level in sound (that can mean whatever you want it to mean) but also have a connection for a stereo tuner.

I've since upgraded to my final CD player: McIntosh MCD12000.

Just a few more details to a already unusual story..

 

[Kingrex]

How do you account for breakin. People proudly anounce their QSA fuse takes 500 hours to sound any good. A duplex receptacle can take 200 hours. My amps took about 6 months. I had an MSB DAC for a week and it was all over.

 

[PYP]

How do you account for breakin. People proudly anounce their QSA fuse takes 500 hours to sound any good. A duplex receptacle can take 200 hours. My amps took about 6 months. I had an MSB DAC for a week and it was all over.

That is a dilemma. And an interesting one. I've had demo equipment that, to my ears, had not been fully broken in. That would seem to be confirmed by the fact that sound improved once the initial warm up period passed (at least a day for digital, I would argue).

There are folks who think that digital equipment continues to improve over the period of a year (I'm one of them). So, how do we fairly compare digital gear? I sometimes wonder if the manufacturer has heard their own creation fully broken in. After all, they are trying to get it to market. If it already sounds great to them, time to launch.

I also wonder about universal voltage converters. Do they really sound the same at 120V and 230V, for example?