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There are so many factors involved in conducting a proper listening test, musical memory, quality of recording and type (acoustic and classical/symphonic vs heavilly processed) of music, even musical preferences.Can someone with experience in this area offer me some guidelines?
What about reference discs/cds? Are there any that are truly exceptional?
Thanks in advance!
Follow Ups:
I presume you are auditioning speakers. A consumer can have control over a number of things. The products compared should be listened to at the same levels, as very often a small level difference is interpreted as a quality difference (detail, image, etc.). As well, the speakers should be set up in a reasonable manner, usually not too close the the walls. The bass to lower midrange will most probably not sound the same as at home, but most the room affects the speaker most below 300-400 Hz, so you should be able to get a good idea of how the speaker sounds.The program material should be something you are familiar with. For consistency, I always include an old Denon Classical Sampler which I have used for many years, and have found a few tracks on it which work well. You want recordings which show differences between speakers and having some on a sampler CD can make things easier for everyone. You could burn your own, too. For preliminary auditions, I use full orchestra with massed strings, male and female vocals, mixed chorus, and piano. This can be done in a relatively short time and not many speakers make it through them unscathed. Those that do I subject to a variety of other recordings, possibly at a subsequent audition. When I have narrowed down the list, I want a home trial (a written return period will do, if necessary).
Now, for your own satisfaction, you may want to audition CDPs, preamps, and amplifiers. Level matching may be difficult, but usually I have found that I can get two competing solid state amplifiers to sound about the same simply by adjusting their volume controls, but a measured level match would be better. But anyway, auditioning an amplifier will enable you to be sure it can drive your speakers properly.
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"Nature loves to hide."
---Heraclitus of Ephesus (trans. Wheelwright)
Many people will advise you to evaluate equipment using music that you know and love. Not me. I say choose well-recorded music that you hate. This is because after a couple dozen AB sessions, you're going to hate it anyway, so why spoil something you love?My personal choice is "The Offering" by the Bobby Battle Quartet on Mapleshade. It's mediocre acoustic jazz, but it has lots of low-level information (drummer Battle is a mutterer), is naturally recorded, good soundstage, and features a really well-recorded double bass solo that's excellent for evaluating bass extension and subwoofer integration. It has served me very well over the years when I want a clinical listening tool; not so well when I want to enjoy music.
Happy ABing,
I once invented an A-B switch (the "RL-100") with the following instructions for use:1) Place the RL-100 on a Teflon-coated, vibration-free surface, ensuring that the polhode rolls without slipping on the herpolhode lying in the invariable plane.
2) Don static-free silk gloves and place the RL-100 into the "A" position. It is extremely important that the current (“base state”) be established in the “A” position.
3) Using the techniques described in Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, locate your special “spot”in the listening environment.
4) Rid your mind of all extraneous thoughts, entering a trance-like, but highly acute sensory state.
5) Listen to the first source with the focused serenity of the Dalai Lama.
6) Carefully rotate the RL-100 knob 37 degrees to the "B" position. The knob will pass through an intermediate “neutral” position to remove any remnants of the initial "A" state. Note: Do not allow this action to interfere with your trance-like state.
7) Return to your special “spot” in the listening environment.
8) Listen to the second source with the same focused serenity.
9) Note the subtle differences in tone, timbre, harmonics, brilliance, presence, beauty, sonority, liquesence, mesonic charge, chromatic dispersion, and Cêrenkov radiation. Pay particular attention to the non-acoustic aspects of the sound. Note these differences in a non-judgmental, loving way, accepting them as glimpses of the ultimate unity of all experience from behind the veil of Maya and avoiding earthly labels of “better” and “worse”.
10) Or not.
rlindsa - new vinyl freakThere are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. (Albert Schweitzer)
NT.
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