A further word on J Gordon Holt. He conducted most of his listening evaluations utilizing master tapes which he made of acoustic classical performances. And he seemed to posses a very good auditory memory. That allowed him to make value judgements on how well given components came to reproducing those live creations. How many reviewers today do anything similar?
I offer this since many readers may be too young to have much appreciation for Holt and what he meant to audio reviewing. He cared about electrical performance, but his ears were the final arbiter.
I offer this since many readers may be too young to have much appreciation for Holt and what he meant to audio reviewing. He cared about electrical performance, but his ears were the final arbiter.