[Ripper2860]

Some may think me gullible or prone to self-induced audio hallucinations, but even I have difficulty with some things. I'm a PfS fan, but I'm struggling with this one.

 

[Paladin79]

Some may think me gullible or prone to self-induced audio hallucinations, but even I have difficulty with some things. I'm a PFS fan, but I'm struggling with this one.

Having conducted some blind fuse tests with high end fuses vs standard, I can only laugh but each to their own.

 

[Godaisan]

Your tastes match that of a large group who heard about 1500 tubes, so I consider you credible. You win a flight board for agreeing with me!

I also agree with you!

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Interesting. I have known of 50 people comparing audio gear in blind studies and the results closely matched my own. One young woman’s score matched the precise outcome of the entire group in one session. The comparisons were based on 25 musical criteria. Comparing the reactions of two can generally lead to greater differences but the people who helped set up the tests firmly believed in the accuracy of a large group. A similar test was performed a few years later using at least twenty new people and some new equipment and similar results were garnered. Because I was involved and witnessed the outcomes I am always more interested in a group reaction to a specific Schiit DAC or Amplifier. Now when it comes to tubes in a specific amplifier, @bcowen is amazing and it seems he really likes the same tube combination my local group voted as the best and he and I do not agree on much.

You're right and indeed prove my point. Not the other way around.
It's extremely easy for people, like dogs, to learn a trick without knowing what they are learning exactly.
I very much doubt your point besides the fact that you don't make one, that is.
Blind testing in audio, besides impossible, is a fairytale.

 

[Paladin79]

You're right and indeed proves my point. Not the other way around.
It's extremely easy for people, like dogs, to learn a trick without knowing what they are learning exactly.
I very much doubt your point beside the fact that you don't make one that is.
Blind testing in audio, besides impossible, is a fairytale.

We will agree to disagree. I can only go by actual experience, not conjecture. A great example is something that was just posted about fuses. A man knows which fuse is the more expensive, plugs it in, and says ah hah, the music is slightly more detailed. Have someone else swap the fuses randomly without him seeing which is which and then let's see how he does. I have done experiments with people claiming they could hear the difference in specific wires, I found one person able to do that in blind testing, the rest failed miserably. I was taught that replicability is important in science and I am more likely to believe when a person can consistently show the same results.

I helped Jason set up one such test involving tubes, in that case it was double blind because the person plugging in the tubes did not know their identity. It was sealed till after the fact. @bcowen showed he could identify several tubes because he had heard them before. The problem is that sometimes you have expectation bias. Compare a tube selling for $1,000 compared to one selling for $20 knowing which is which, and tell me which is better? You know wine, you can probably recall an experiment where the same wine was in two bottles, one was marked with a higher price. Price labels were swapped back and forth and people kept voting for the higher price label, when tasted. Without people knowing price you would be surprised how well a lesser priced DAC or amp or tube might do. I like blind studies for that reason, ceteris paribus.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

Thanks for this review. I am holding off until someone takes my Vidar off my hands, and then who knows as the long XLR connection from my main system with turntable to the tv room is something I love about the GHorns.

Question: if I use a bi-wire speaker wire to connect my passive Focal to a pair of GHorn and my class D integrated ... what kind of problems do I run into? Will there be interference unless one is unplugged from the ac outlet? Will there be interference (eg ground loops) even though class D is connected only to the TV via optical, and the GHorn connected to Freya via 35 foot XLR pair? Probably should buy a switch box if I want to keep this set up I guess ...

I had my klipch RF7 II bi amped with two different topology amps for years. I had a tube amp for the horn and class AB amp for the dual woofers. The speakers were designed to run both both sections separately. It sounded good, but was completely unnecessary.

I changed my setup so the tube amp is now bi amping the center channel and I have the RF 7 bi amped to two same model amps. I'm very happy with this setup.

To be clear I'm using 1 channel of one amplifier to run the horns and the other channel running the dual woofers.

Bi wiring is splitting the R and L channels from the amp to 2 R and 2 L channels at the speakers. This is essentially only using extra wire. It's no different than using the jumpers on the speaker and a normal speaker cable.

 

[sam6550a]

Very cool, I am fortunate to have a large number of tubes for the amps I kept. I can swap back and forth between two amps I designed if I ever want to hear variations in the Melz 6SN7 compatibles.

You are infamous for your Melz hoard.

 

[Ripper2860]

And yet it pales in comparison to Bill's Foton stash.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

You are infamous for your Melz hoard.

"Carefully curated collection" is what you actually meant to say, right? ;p

 

[corndog71]

The problem with these fancy fuses is that they are unregulated. Consider Littelfuse. They are certified and tested to break under well-established conditions. That is their only job.

Are these fancy fuses certified to break when they are supposed to? If not, why not?

 

[Adam Balm]

The problem with these fancy fuses is that they are unregulated. Consider Littelfuse. They are certified and tested to break under well-established conditions. That is their only job.

Are these fancy fuses certified to break when they are supposed to? If not, why not?

Littlefuse or Bussmann. Good enough for me.

 

[Paladin79]

"Carefully curated collection" is what you actually meant to say, right? ;p

And yet it pales in comparison to Bill's Foton stash.

Yeah but I might actually listen to Melz, Fotons are cat toys.

 

[bcowen]

Yeah but I might actually listen to Melz, Fotons are cat toys.

Jerk.

I guess it's kinda like when I see someone parking a Ferrari in the Target parking lot and ask if they want to test drive my Pacer. They always decline. Rich snobs.

 

[LobalWarming]

The problem with these fancy fuses is that they are unregulated. Consider Littelfuse. They are certified and tested to break under well-established conditions. That is their only job.

Are these fancy fuses certified to break when they are supposed to? If not, why not?

I would hope not! When one spends $5k or more on a fuse, blowing it after blowing $5k is doubly redundant.

 

[Paladin79]

Jerk.

I guess it's kinda like when I see someone parking a Ferrari in the Target parking lot and ask if they want to test drive my Pacer. They always decline. Rich snobs.

I will admit the value of your 300B quad is equal to the value of my Melz collection, man should not be judged on Fotons alone.