Although I am in no way interested in purchasing said tonearms due to cost, it was fun to listen to these tracks and there are differences that I could hear with my computer audio headphone setup. I think the digitization affects the sound but does not obscure the comparisons in most cases. I like that Fremer posts these files as it is an interesting/fun way to hear what differences show up between components and how that relates to the way other people put those differences into words. It certainly informs the way Fremer describes what he is hearing.
SAT Comparison
MF has kindly provided unidentified needledrops of 2 new versions of the SAT arm (incl one priced at $48K).
These can be found in the latest entries on his Analog Planet web page.
Listening to the first few seconds of each track on iPad speakers I found the “winner” (for me at least...) to be “1” followed by “3” then “2” with “4” the least preferred.
Just for fun, I invited my wife, who has no audio experience or interest whatsoever, who knew nothing about the files or the hardware or anyone else’s preferences, named her order of preference as 1-3-2-4, again listening to only the first few seconds of each file. Unlike myself she didn’t need 1-3/2-3 double checks she just identified them straight off. Impressive!
I wouldn’t be so rash as to assume that “1” was the most expensive “SAT” or that “2” was the original model.
(For the sake of the expensive model I would hope so! ;)
See what you think...
It’ll be interesting to know what the wildcard “4” turns out to be...
These can be found in the latest entries on his Analog Planet web page.
Listening to the first few seconds of each track on iPad speakers I found the “winner” (for me at least...) to be “1” followed by “3” then “2” with “4” the least preferred.
Just for fun, I invited my wife, who has no audio experience or interest whatsoever, who knew nothing about the files or the hardware or anyone else’s preferences, named her order of preference as 1-3-2-4, again listening to only the first few seconds of each file. Unlike myself she didn’t need 1-3/2-3 double checks she just identified them straight off. Impressive!
I wouldn’t be so rash as to assume that “1” was the most expensive “SAT” or that “2” was the original model.
(For the sake of the expensive model I would hope so! ;)
See what you think...
It’ll be interesting to know what the wildcard “4” turns out to be...