Solid State and Tube Listener Challenge

After a spell without the AR3As hooked up, we installed the Juicy Music Blueberry preamp, the Opera Consonance 211 monoblocs, and the AR 3As into the main system for a listen with five friends tomorrow.

 
It is a lot of fun years ago participated in the same thing was able to try a couple of my favorite songs, back then the format was 45's. What I saw was one amp seemed to stand out playing rock n roll while another was better at softer music. We also realized there was so many factors that affected music reproduction, room size ,shape, decoration, solid or soft walls etc. etc. Then add in a little bit of bias tube versus transistor or brand loyality it all adds up.
 
In my capacity as a string principal in a Canadian orchestra, I have to listen to auditioning musicians. As per the bylaws of the American [now Canadian] Federation of Musicians, at least the first round has to be "blind" (the candidates play behind a screen, and are not allowed to say anything. When you hear heels, you usually know the gender - except LGBTQ is really becoming mainstream. But I digress...).

One thing I have noticed is that the last candidate has the highest probability of winning. Barring the last audition being a bad performance, or the candidate being flat out below an acceptable professional standard, behind the screen being last is a positive.

I think it's due to a few factors. One is it is most vivid to recall when the committee discusses the round and about to vote, and another is the panel is intimately familiar with the audition excerpts by then. You might think we would be more critical by the end, but people are inherently decent and I think we actually become more forgiving, after hearing dozens of candidates make some sort of mistake. And we are all happy the end is near, when the last candidate plays, so we listen with a much more positive mind frame.

All of this is to say: could you send the three song selections to everybody who is attending, so they can become intimately familiar with the recordings on their own system, so they have a base frame of reference? And be wary of favouring the last candidate!

Any tube/SS listening challenges coming up?
 
....We also realized there was so many factors that affected music reproduction, room size ,shape, decoration, solid or soft walls etc. etc. Then add in a little bit of bias tube versus transistor or brand loyality it all adds up.

What I thought when I saw the thread title: there are so many variables! Impossible to manage them all, but can be fun trying.

I think it's due to a few factors. One is it is most vivid to recall when the committee discusses the round and about to vote, and another is the panel is intimately familiar with the audition excerpts by then. You might think we would be more critical by the end, but people are inherently decent and I think we actually become more forgiving, after hearing dozens of candidates make some sort of mistake. And we are all happy the end is near, when the last candidate plays, so we listen with a much more positive mind frame.

All of this is to say: could you send the three song selections to everybody who is attending, so they can become intimately familiar with the recordings on their own system, so they have a base frame of reference? And be wary of favouring the last candidate!

In design school everyone dreaded going first at a crit. First person up invariably got trashed, because all the critics were fresh & loaded for bear. Also reminds me of a study showing that defendants got off easiest early in the morning or right after lunch. All about the judge's mood swings.
 
My brother and I went to the audio show in Denver a couple of years ago. Now it's a world class show and everyone who's a audio fan should go, some amazing things. The one constant was tube amps and 2 way speakers being the killer setups at that year's show.
 
Hi ! sorry if i jump in not invited :oops: but i missed the description of the front end. Was it digital or analog ? sometimes digital sounds better with tubes while analog usually sounds good on both.
It could be that solid state is more revealing ?
Regards, gino
 
We used a Rega Planet CD player and a Arcam DV27 player for our source.
GAS is having two events in the next month - one at our house - and RSVPs are required. We will have the usual mix of tube and solid state going, but these are both more on the social side with opportunities for critical listening, not critical listening only sessions.
 
We are going to be listening to a few integrated amps and receivers this weekend.

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