AB Testing Experiences

Our whole concept of tone balance is tied to volume. Change the volume, our perceived tone balance changes and no amount of listening experience will ever change that.

You seem to be trying to reference Fletcher-Munson equal loudness curves and not quite getting it right. So let me help you understand- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour
That's not tone. Tone is quality, not just volume. Two violins playing the same note at exactly the same volume can have completely different tone. You have confused and conflated these two different concepts. 

Increasing volume also brings out detail that can be lost at lower volumes again changing our perception and appreciation of the music.

No, volume alone can do nothing to "bring out details". Its true we can't hear anything at all if the volume is too low. But its also true high volume actually hampers hearing and obscures detail. You made a blanket statement that sounds superficially satisfying but has no support in reality. 

Nothing in listening experience will change that either.

Actually the more aware you are of these things the better position you are in to evaluate what you are hearing. In other words it makes you a better listener. Also if nothing in listening experience can change anything then what is the point? There's nothing to learn, and no reason to bother with experience. Another statement it probably felt good to write until its shown to be total malarkey. 

That post was ignorant level 1.

Pretty much. Only you realize too late we are talking about yours, not mine.

My first question of the OP's post is : What do you want to get out of your testing experience, and do you think A/B testing is suitable for those goals?

@mahler123,

It wasn’t MP3 v SACD, just CD v 320kbps.
Maybe I should have tried classical.

We did try a few high-res discs (Dylan’s 2001 Love and Theft was one) but the results were not convincing. It sounded a little soft (analogue?) and we weren’t too sure about the legitimacy of the mastering, or even which layer the Pioneer deck that we used was actually playing.


’I enlisted my wife to change inputs at one point, and she was nice enough to cooperate, but she was clearly bored, and it also led to the question on her part “Since they all sound the same to me,why do you need all of these different boxes?” so heed my experience and don’t go there’


Yes sadly, enlisting help is very difficult, not to mention opening yourself up to further ridicule.

I used to put the comparison discs label up and try to load the CD player with my eyes shut!

I know, this is certifiable stuff.
Luckily there were no witnesses.

A better method was to record them onto Minidisc and set the machine to random.

I still miss Minidisc, it was a fabulous format. Especially for all us Nick Hornby types who love compiling top 10 lists and rearranging them at will.

Once again I suspect those reviewers who kept kicking it without actually comparing it unsighted to CD had hidden agendas to do so.

Oh well, maybe Minidisc will eventually be replaced by some form of Network player which offers equivalent on the spot editing versatility and sound quality.

No Millercarbon I have not conflated anything. I said tonal balance. How we perceive a sound is based on how we perceive a whole set of frequencies that make up said tone or sound. That is absolutely impacted by volume. That is irrefutable. It’s how our ears /hearing system works.


With the same sound, louder volume does not mask quieter passages unless you are reaching saturation of the hearing system EXCEPT as described above the impact of tonal balance due to Fletcher Munson. Increasing the volume makes the bass increase in relative volume more than other frequencies which can have a masking effect in addition to changing tonal balance. You proved yourself wrong right there. You are trying to ignore biological reality to suit a particular position.

Listening experience can make you better able to extract information, but it does not change the basic biology you were born with hence why it is so important with AB to level match.

Yes you need to level match. Get a SPL meter and do the best you can with it getting volumes close. I've  done it with DACs and could never pick the right one though I do admit the Node2i has a pretty bad implementation.