I pulled this quote from the "Blind Listening" column:
"Over 10 years ago, for example, I failed to distinguish a Quad 405 from a Naim NAP250 or a TVA tube amplifier in such a blind test organized by Martin Colloms (footnote 2). Convinced by these results of the validity in the Consumer Reports philosophy, I consequently sold my exotic and expensive Lecson power amplifier with which I had been very happy and bought a much cheaper Quad 405—the biggest mistake of my audiophile career!" - John Atkinson
Let's assume that the amps in question do in fact all sound essentially the same, at least indistinguishably the same. The fact is we do not use our amps and associated equipment to help us track and measure finite objects like the Higgs boson particle. We use our audio gear to bring us joy. If we get a higher level of that joy by knowing we have the cheapest amp extant that measures well, or we get that higher level of joy by appreciating the massive heat sinks of our class A amp, so what?
Each is the right answer for the person who appreciates either of these two very different amps.
If the audio reviewer feels he is getting "closer" to the musical event or whatever, good for him. It is up to us to determine if this matters to us. In my case, not so much, but for someone else this may be just what the reader needs to hear.
I generally agree with the tenor of what you are saying.
I disagree (like most ASR members) with the conclusions JA drew from his experience with blind testing (that there is something wrong with the tests).
But nonetheless sympathize with his personal sibjective experience as an audiophile regretting selling his exotic amp for the cheaper quad amp.
It reminds me of some experience I’ve had with my amps. I’ve been using CJ tube amps since I got in to audio in the 90s, with brief flings with solid state amps. For instance, my CJ’s blew fuse and I was feeling lazy about getting them fixed so just started using a Harman Kardon solid state amp.
But I wasn’t as engaged in listening when that amp was in the system. And over time, a few months, I found less and less interested in sitting down and listening to music on my system. It reached the point that I had concluded I guess I wasn’t really into the whole audio system thing anymore.
So I decided to start selling starting with my Conrad Johnson tube amps. I got the fuse fixed got them ready to sell, and to make sure that they were still working properly, I put them in my system for a listen and… wham!… there was that intoxicating sound that I have been missing: what I perceived as a more natural, organic, vivid yet relaxing, tonally rich sound. I was so bided. I listened late into the night, and then laid into the next night, and the next night. My system had that “ I can’t stop listening” factor again. I realized I still loved the system and there is no way in hell I was going to sell those amps.
That actually happened other times when tried putting solid amps in my system again.
What I perceive (and here I’m including bias as part of perception ) when I use solicit amps in my system is a sort of tighter, harder, more squeezed and slightly more “ uptight” sound, that sort of gets my shoulders scrunched up a bit. When the tube amps go in I feel “aaahhh” and the sound strikes me as more, relaxing and engaging in my shoulders feel like they relax down.
My point here isn’t to make the claim that when I seem to perceive in the above is actually true or accurate to the sound. It is obviously the case that it could be a pure bias effect on my part.
My point is though: that IS my subjective experience. That IS how I feel when the tube amps are in play in my system. Given how strong and persistent this subjective experience is, I am happy to avail myself of whatever is happening. And in that sense, it would be a “mistake” for me to sell those amps and replace them with solid state just because solid state measures better. I’ve come close to making that mistake, and I’m glad I didn’t.
Again, I diverge with JA on the subject of line testing. He concluded that informal sighted listening is ultimately more informative than blind testing about gear. He trusts his sided subjective impressions.
I don’t make that conclusion. I still hold out my subjective sighted listening could always be a bias effect. That using scientific controls is always going to get more accurate information.
Burden the real world or I’m not able to blind test absolutely everything, and pragmatism mixes with personal idiosyncrasies, I’m OK going with my informal listening impressions.
That’s how I’m going to be listening to gear.
And so I can sympathize with your post, and with JA’s experience of regretting selling some beloved amp.
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