The Richmond Audiophile Society did a double blind shoot-out involving 8 RBCD players (ranging in price from $85 to $10,000) and the Sony 9000ES SACD player. There were 28 members who participated in the shootout.Methodology: All of the players were placed in my equipment closet which cannot be seen from the main listening area. All players were connected to the preamp using the same interconnect cables and volume levels were matched. Two players were selected by drawing names from a bowl and were placed in head-to-head competition (none of the listeners knew what what playing at any time during the shootout). A "helper", who was not part of the panel and did not know what was playing, would ask me to switch sources and polled the panel for its preferences. The winner then was put up against the next radomly selected player. The loser was then ranked against other losers.
Music: Norah Jones (hey, I didn't pick it).
System: Jeff Rowland Synergy IIi preamp, Jeff Rowland Model 12 monoblock amplifiers, Martin Logan Prodigy speakers, Luminous Audio Synchestra Signature interconnects and speaker cable.
Results: Winner was a Cary 306/200 playing redbook CD
Sony 9000ES was second playing SACD
Other competition came from the likes of Meridian, 47 Labs, Classe, Pioneer Elite, Panasonic, Audio Research and Sony RBCD. The big surprise was that the $85 Panasonic CD/DVD player finished third!Only two members of the panel said that they "knew" when SACD was playing. Of course, I believe there would have been a third if I'd been in the audience! Needless to say, these results were very interesting.
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Topic - Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - zog 08:22:51 02/07/04 (103)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - bluenose 12:17:13 02/11/04 (1)
- Cannot Hurt To Try It - Robertc88 03:58:27 02/14/04 (0)
- Identity of the Panasonic Player - zog 15:55:04 02/08/04 (3)
- Re: Identity of the Panasonic Player - Nessun dorma 13:38:56 02/10/04 (0)
- Re: Identity of the Panasonic Player - regmac 16:32:16 02/08/04 (0)
- Okay. I was close : ) - Sean 16:11:11 02/08/04 (0)
- Not Surprising to me.... - Sean 15:48:15 02/08/04 (0)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - Nessun dorma 11:09:04 02/08/04 (3)
- Mystery Panasonic - zog 11:24:35 02/08/04 (2)
- Re: Mystery Panasonic - Sean 15:59:52 02/08/04 (1)
- 50 dollars and less on eBay <nt> - Joel_Waterman 16:58:26 02/08/04 (0)
- How do we listen to our system blind-folded? - Jon L 10:35:34 02/08/04 (0)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - Hardy 09:26:01 02/08/04 (1)
- Link to Richmond Audiophile Society - zog 10:03:32 02/08/04 (0)
- Response to a few of the issues raised - zog 20:46:13 02/07/04 (17)
- "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - Kal Rubinson 09:44:19 02/08/04 (10)
- Re: "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - AbeCollins 11:29:38 02/08/04 (8)
- Re: "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - Kal Rubinson 17:47:45 02/08/04 (7)
- Re: "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - Jazz Inmate 11:05:04 02/09/04 (6)
- Actually her album is pretty good - rebop 13:07:56 02/09/04 (4)
- Her album is pretty good? - Kal Rubinson 16:09:09 02/09/04 (3)
- Re: Her album is pretty good? - rebop 09:41:36 02/10/04 (2)
- Clarification, please. - Kal Rubinson 10:31:01 02/10/04 (1)
- Re: Clarification, please. - rebop 11:33:11 02/10/04 (0)
- Re: "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - Kal Rubinson 13:03:22 02/09/04 (0)
- Re: "First, we wanted to have some fun. " - zog 10:02:05 02/08/04 (0)
- Re: Response to a few of the issues raised - Nessun dorma 08:28:17 02/08/04 (0)
- Nice write-up. Enjoyed the read . Thks. <nt> - Joel_Waterman 22:10:05 02/07/04 (0)
- Good job, and good protocol. - Duilawyer 22:06:58 02/07/04 (2)
- A major win? - AbeCollins 12:24:33 02/08/04 (1)
- Re: A major win? - theaudiohobby 21:55:17 02/08/04 (0)
- Thanks for the post, the discussion was fun too (nt) - vettracer 22:06:31 02/07/04 (0)
- A tree-level view of SACD... - Numero Uno 17:25:07 02/07/04 (0)
- Interesting post. But how really vital is the test recording? - John C. - Aussie 14:18:13 02/07/04 (10)
- importance of source material ... - Christine Tham 14:57:18 02/07/04 (9)
- IMHO the exact opposite - familiarity of source material breeds biases... - Steve Cortez 23:27:31 02/07/04 (0)
- and the most diificult sound to reproduce accurately - Duilawyer 16:54:59 02/07/04 (7)
- But Norah is not well recorded on this album - vettracer 19:01:20 02/07/04 (1)
- Didn't know that. If I have to listen to verify - Duilawyer 22:09:39 02/07/04 (0)
- A concert grand piano is a tougher test if you ask me... - Dalton 17:48:22 02/07/04 (4)
- And the mass strings in tutti (nt) - pann 07:09:44 02/08/04 (0)
- A system that can fool me into thinking that i am listening to a piano - Penguin 18:47:01 02/07/04 (1)
- Great point, I have only heard that one time. At a house - Duilawyer 22:38:20 02/07/04 (0)
- Agree on the piano and orchestra. - Joe Murphy Jr 18:07:51 02/07/04 (0)
- Thanks for reporting - Ted Smith 14:04:15 02/07/04 (0)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - rich121 13:56:47 02/07/04 (0)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - rich121 13:45:52 02/07/04 (1)
- Actually, you have disproven your own theory. - Duilawyer 08:36:34 02/08/04 (0)
- A better test might be with a more complex recording . . . - AmirB 13:14:12 02/07/04 (0)
- "$85 Panasonic CD/DVD player finished third!" - Christine Tham 12:12:05 02/07/04 (1)
- Re: "$85 Panasonic CD/DVD player finished third!" - lanT5 15:35:45 02/08/04 (0)
- as i recall 'Come Away With Me' was mastered in PCM........ - mikel 11:51:15 02/07/04 (6)
- It's true,and awful, that to post the view you hold, you - Duilawyer 12:59:27 02/07/04 (5)
- the subject has been debated to death...... - mikel 14:43:16 02/07/04 (0)
- This is a public place........ - Chris Garrett 13:41:22 02/07/04 (3)
- Re: This is a public place........ - HiOnFi 09:06:22 02/08/04 (0)
- "HiRez isn't about you" - Christine Tham 14:53:36 02/07/04 (1)
- 'Tough love'.... - Chris Garrett 14:56:12 02/07/04 (0)
- What you proved.... - Dalton 11:11:58 02/07/04 (24)
- What you proved is there are still members of the "Flat earth - Duilawyer 11:54:32 02/07/04 (23)
- Dalton's post sans 'subject header' - Chris Garrett 14:15:01 02/07/04 (22)
- Chris, while I appreciate the editing rather than wholesale deletion... - Dalton 15:38:37 02/07/04 (2)
- You were actually fine, but....... - Chris Garrett 22:59:40 02/07/04 (1)
- Yeah, DUI is keeping things tense here for sure... - Dalton 23:23:07 02/07/04 (0)
- Re: Dalton's post sans 'subject header' - regmac 15:06:27 02/07/04 (7)
- i prefer "accurate" to "euphonic" ... - Christine Tham 15:19:37 02/07/04 (5)
- Re: i prefer "accurate" to "euphonic" ... - regmac 16:58:45 02/07/04 (4)
- shibboleths - tunenut 17:47:57 02/07/04 (3)
- Re: shibboleths - regmac 09:00:09 02/08/04 (2)
- recalcitrant - tunenut 10:02:27 02/08/04 (1)
- Re: recalcitrant - regmac 13:44:31 02/08/04 (0)
- I only wrote the subject header and... - Chris Garrett 15:14:03 02/07/04 (0)
- I agree; I was overboard on evaluating the "science". - Duilawyer 14:59:08 02/07/04 (10)
- That's what I was saying in the posts you flagged - Jazz Inmate 15:04:36 02/07/04 (9)
- Do you always have to have the last word? - Chris Garrett 15:18:06 02/07/04 (2)
- No, but earlier today you deleted three posts of mine within a half hour - Jazz Inmate 19:22:13 02/07/04 (1)
- Jazz, I think Dui and Chris have worked something out....oops I think I`m going to get deleted (nt) - honshued 21:29:23 02/07/04 (0)
- Re: That's what I was saying in the posts you flagged - regmac 15:14:32 02/07/04 (5)
- If calmly typing away on my keyboard is "coming unglued", mea culpa - Jazz Inmate 20:02:40 02/07/04 (1)
- Re: If calmly typing away on my keyboard is "coming unglued", mea culpa - regmac 08:22:36 02/08/04 (0)
- Come on over to my 'hood... - Numero Uno 17:38:08 02/07/04 (0)
- Paging Doctor Garrett...paging Doctor Garrett....nt - honshued 15:41:29 02/07/04 (1)
- Re: Paging Doctor Garrett...paging Doctor Garrett....nt - regmac 17:00:49 02/07/04 (0)
- Sounds like decent methodology, but who is convinced? - Norm 11:07:45 02/07/04 (0)
- ok, how about some details... - chris e. 10:44:59 02/07/04 (2)
- Yep....... - Chris Garrett 12:03:36 02/07/04 (1)
- intragroup correlation coefficient - chris e. 01:12:50 02/08/04 (0)
- Re: Blind Shootout SACD vs. 8 Redbook CD Players - Balekan 09:33:43 02/07/04 (0)
- "Music: Norah Jones (hey, I didn't pick it)" - you're excused - Metralla 09:24:52 02/07/04 (4)
- Maybe a MTT/SFS Mahler symphony hybrid SACD - High-end Dreamer 10:13:39 02/07/04 (0)
- What discs to use next time? - Duilawyer 09:52:56 02/07/04 (2)
- How about W&TPB (I couldn't resist) - vettracer 10:37:04 02/07/04 (1)
- Re: How about W&TPB (I couldn't resist) - theaudiohobby 13:28:33 02/07/04 (0)
- What model for the $85 Panasonic? nt - Jonathan 09:03:25 02/07/04 (5)
- Re: What model for the $85 Panasonic? nt - zog 09:20:24 02/07/04 (4)
- Well, it would be interesting... - Jonathan 09:38:51 02/07/04 (3)
- It was probably a.... - Sean 15:56:00 02/08/04 (0)
- Retail about $5M? nt - Duilawyer 09:59:18 02/07/04 (1)
- Cary player retails for $5,000, I believe. nt - Jonathan 12:48:17 02/07/04 (0)
- Congratulations on serious methodology; - Duilawyer 08:57:26 02/07/04 (2)
- Re: Congratulations on serious methodology; - zog 09:22:19 02/07/04 (1)
- Good work, (if you can call that "work")! nt - Duilawyer 09:54:11 02/07/04 (0)
- Must have been my ear problems. nt - Duilawyer 08:43:23 02/07/04 (0)