Blind fold hearing test

Before continuing my discussion with Viridian, I'll answer the blindfold question. For a multitude of reasons it's irrelevant; one reason is that there would have to be a significant difference between the components, which would also be in price as well, in order to tell the difference in a short time blindfolded; why bother?

If you're going to make an intelligent purchase, which is the only reason to take the time for the test in the first place, too many factors must be known that can not be determined in a short time.

Julian Hirsch and Hirsch Houck laboratories were synonymous; he spoke for the labs.

Although you had personal contact with Julian, we both had an affection for the man. Mine was from reading his reviews for so many years and considering every word gospel until I got into the "high-end"; that's because specifications don't mean as much, more is determined by one's ability to hear.

As we age, our hearing diminishes, that's a fact of life. While the price difference between high quality "mid-fi" and high end is huge, the audible benefits are only worthwhile if you have the ability to hear all the subtle differences. The same goes for tube gear with expensive NOS tubes.

In regard to "tubes" he states all the drawbacks, and skims over the reasons some of us have gone back to tubes; he states,

"I am less than enthusiastic about about them, principally because they appear to be inferior to comparable solid-state amplifiers in respect to cost per watt, heat generation, frequency response flatness, distortion, and perhaps ultimate reliability as well".

While that statement had much truth in it, the fact that tubes reproduce music better than solid state was left out.

In his reviews, he omitted the subjective part that was included at the end of a "Stereophile" review, relying solely on his technical measurements to speak for themselves.

Time, and time again he bypassed, or omitted anything that required a subjective listening or hearing call, and when he did, while he stated there may have been differences between high quality SS amps, he didn't hear the difference.

What I'm stating is my sum total of 20 plus years of reading his reviews on high quality SS audio amps; his omissions spoke volumes to me after I got into the "high-end" and heard all the things Mr. Julian Hirsch didn't hear.

             

If I’m not mistaken, what Julian Hirsch actually stated is that generally amplifiers that measure the same sound about the same. Which is obviously different than saying all amplifiers sound the same. Of course, today, 40 years later, we know there are many more variables involved in the sound of an amplifier including, but not limited to, vibration isolation, speaker cables, power cords, fuses, capacitors, and room acoustics.

I don't recall him reviewing "high-end" tube amps, but that didn't matter because I wasn't buying them at that time, but the kind he was reviewing were mostly high quality SS "Mid-fi", and I agreed with him that those amps which measured about the same, sounded about the same.

It was only when he commented on the differences between high end and mid fi; such as when you replace capacitors with very expensive "Black Gates", plus substituted other components, he couldn't hear the difference after this was done with a mid-fi amp; he stated that in his own words.

As knowledgeable as Mr. Hirsch was about all things audio, his ability to discern the audible difference between high quality mid-fi and high end amps was not the best, which is something that's probably going to happen to all the "golden ears" if they live long enough.

Maybe he didn’t know capacitors take a long time to burn in. 🤗