Simply putting a tube buffer with a pot in a tape monitor circuit is revealing how little most of this stuff matters to "sound.." In the end it's not "listening" so much as toe tapping. Like Darren Myers sez. Involvement with the music is the only objective.
AB Testing Experiences
Anybody done much AB testing. Hard to do at dealers with much variety, and in homes even tougher. Anyone done much of this and able to share experience.
My kenwood tape deck from 1980 allowed this, tape play vs recorded sound.
My curiously would be an AB test between avr vs stereo preamp, tube vs ss, McIntosh vs audio research preamps, high end spkrs, amps, etc I can do some AB testing at home between avr dac vs bluesound vs chord. This shows lots of differences. Bluesound was quite bad. The 5014 Marantz avr dac for heos streaming wasn’t bad, very open and detailed.
My kenwood tape deck from 1980 allowed this, tape play vs recorded sound.
My curiously would be an AB test between avr vs stereo preamp, tube vs ss, McIntosh vs audio research preamps, high end spkrs, amps, etc I can do some AB testing at home between avr dac vs bluesound vs chord. This shows lots of differences. Bluesound was quite bad. The 5014 Marantz avr dac for heos streaming wasn’t bad, very open and detailed.