RikC
pfm Member
One criticism I have of fast AB testing/blind testing is it can take quite a long time, maybe days or weeks, to really get to know a product or a change. All the stuff we listen to tends to be good, so we are looking for fine differences and where these differences reside may not be immediately obvious. As an example take MP3 vs. Lossless. In a fast AB or worse an on-the-fly switch I may be caught out, but once I learned what to listen to I can tell them apart pretty easily (follow the reverb tails and listen to guitar distortion, MP3 can do neither well!). As such I am no fan of this type of quick switch dem and would place little weight on your not "passing" the test. If you really want to know which is best play each for a week and see which one makes you want to play more music/investigate new or seldom played titles. That is the best test IMO. I can sometimes not tell if I've improved something, but after a bit of time it becomes very clear if I've made it worse! Despite that I admire your dedication!
PS The Kefs sound like a winner I like the standard LS50 (assuming a nice big powerful amp is nearby), so I'd expect the actives to be rather good!
Thanks Tony. Going into my 'experiment' I deliberately chose tracks that I was very familiar with and that I've listened to on a number of different systems. I take your point about dialling in to a system for a week or so, however, I couldn't bear to listen to the Naim v1 in the chain for even a couple of hours let alone a week! Don't get me wrong, i really like aspects of what the Naim DAC is doing but it's a bit too forward for my tastes.
For me it was a worthwhile little venture as its confirmed my thoughts about the switch from Naim to this all-in-one Kef. And its a good 'un.