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Sony NW-A55L on Techmoan

nintendoeats

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Techmoan recently posted a video in which he performed an experiment with a reasonable attempt at blinding. He compared the Sony A100 and A55L DAPs, and consistently found that he preferred the more expensive A100. Link to the start of experiment:

What do we think? I generally expect Sony to be able to produce audible transparency at the A55Ls price range, and I am concerned that he was driving both devices over 100 (which suggests to me that each might be audibly distorting in its own unique way). Granted, if one "sounds better" at a given volume that is still a good thing, even if it is distorting.
 

Fluffy

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I was also thinking of addressing that video here. Initially I said to myself the so-called blind test that he did on camera was invalid because it was too few repeats, but later he stated that off camera he repeated it dozens of times to the same conclusion. I do wonder if this is a truly blind test, because tangling the cables sounds like a sketchy method. He could easily have had unconscious signals to tell him which player is which, and thus making a conscious pick of the "better" one based on that.

On the other hand, it is possible that one player really does sound better than the other one. In this case, this test should be followed by some measurements to try and detect the actual difference.

In any case, it's nice to hear him complain about the snake-oily descriptions in Sony's website, like the aluminum milled frame, that definitely doesn't provide "clear, stable sound and solid bass". It's a shame even huge brands use this kind of marketing technique that promotes ignorance.
 
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nintendoeats

nintendoeats

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In any case, it's nice to hear him complain about the snake-oily descriptions in Sony's website, like the aluminum milled frame, that definitely doesn't provide "clear, stable sound and solid bass". It's a shame even huge brands use this kind of marketing technique that promotes ignorance.

I am also hazy about the blinding method, but I guess it would be challenging to do any better without a second person (or a switchbox with some kind of randomizing function...hey, that would be pretty easy actually). The delay in playing the track is also a problem that is hard to ignore.

As to this kind of marketing, Sony's audio arm seems particularly dedicated to it. I think part of the answer is that the people marketing these products don't really understand them (in which case, calling out their bullshit in a prominent youtube channel can only help). The awful thing is, Sony makes some really nice audio products, even at more reasonable prices.
 
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