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Engaging and entertaining, but also leave having a sense of this component's sound.
Leak Stereo 230 integrated amplifier Specifications
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid state, Roon Tested, class-AB, stereo streaming integrated amplifier with DAC, JFET–based moving magnet/high-output moving coil phono preamp, dedicated headphone amplifier, tone controls, and remote control. DAC section employs ESS Technology's ES9038Q2M chip. Analog inputs: 2 pair RCA line-level, 1 phono. Digital inputs: HDMI ARC, USB-B, S/PDIF on RCA, TosLink, aptX HD Bluetooth. Analog outputs: 1 RCA pre-out, 1 ¼" (6.35mm) headphone, speaker binding posts. Digital outputs: 1 optical, 1 S/PDIF on RCA. Hi-rez support via USB input: PCM 32/768; DSD512; full MQA decoding; Hi-rez support via S/PDIF inputs: PCM 24/192, full MQA decoding. Power output: 75Wpc RMS into 8 ohms (18.75dBW), 115Wpc RMS into 4 ohms (17.6dBW).
Dimensions: With wood enclosure: 13" (328mm) W × 5.8" (147mm) H × 16.3" (414mm) D; Without wood enclosure: 11.8" (300mm) W × 4.5" (115mm) H × 16.3" (414mm) D. Weight: 28lb (12.7kg) with the wooden enclosure, 24.4lb (11.1kg) without.
Serial number of unit reviewed: LH000805CED1053 auditioned, LH000805CFD1195 measured. Manufactured in China.
Price: $1695 with enclosure, $1495 without. Approximate number of US and Canadian dealers: 27. Warranty: 3 years.
Manufacturer: Leak Audio, IAG House, 13/14 Glebe Rd., Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 7DL, England, UK. Web: leak-hifi.co.uk. US importer: MoFi Distribution, 1811 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, IL 60660. Tel: (312) 841-4087. Web: mofidistribution.com.
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COMMENTS
cognoscente
Submitted by cognoscente on December 22, 2023 - 9:23am
Fortunately not another review of a Bugatti, because no one (here) buys one. I'm always a bit suspicious of fashionable retro vintage look equipment. Luckily this is one that sounds good. But "just" (unexpectedly) good for the price, or outstanding in its price. That is what we all ultimately want to read here, how does it sound in comparison to the reference in the price range.
Always a pleasure to be of assistance!
Submitted by Tom Gibbs on December 22, 2023 - 4:59pm
Great review, Rob -- I really love the Leak gear, especially its retro-cool vibe. And it was my utmost pleasure to assist!
Enjoy the holidays!
Tom
Next up for review should be the ...
Submitted by Ortofan on December 24, 2023 - 2:09pm
... $1,800 Yamaha R-N1000N, which includes a room correction function - but lacks a wood cabinet.
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-n1000a/index.html
OFF-TOPIC: Stereophile forum gone?
Submitted by hollowman on December 26, 2023 - 4:34am
This is the only place to post on this SERIOUS issue/development with Stereophile.
Its long-time running Forum and all content seem to have been VANISHED.
Many of us have contributed time and effort into our posts in the Forum. For almost two decades.
It's OKAY for Stereophile to discontinue the FORUM as Stereophile deems necessary. But please leave the content in place. It's disingenuous to disappear it from existence without proper, public notice.
Class D isn't for Leak?
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 27, 2023 - 3:15pm
Too bad, class D is the best you can get. Why? Because you can make class D sound like any amp ever built, put a tube on the input stage and bias it just right and bingo the output sounds like a tube amp. A jfet, sure, if that's the sound you want.
It's not magic, it's electronic engineering, it's based in science. The only difference between an oscilloscope and an amplifier is what you want the instrument to do.
I get it there's no flash, no mystery and less money to be made but those are the facts, that's the science and just like it takes science to design an amp it takes science to design an arbitrary wave form generator (AWG).
I laugh when I hear all about how the power supply is different or the bias is different, etc.
We can make an electric car for $30k with sophisticated motor technology but we can't seem to make a decent turntable for $1k.
This is why engineers find audio so amusing, we need to break in an amp for 100 hours before it works right. I have instruments than can measure down to picoamps. I've never been told or read anywhere in the instructions that I have to run it in for 100 hours before it works right!
blind listening
Submitted by kelven on December 27, 2023 - 7:14pm
Yes, measurements are important.
So, too, is blind listening--where not uncommonly what is qualitatively discerned has yet to be captured through quantitative means.
I'll leave it at that.
You can't see it on instruments you can't hear it
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 3:48am
Can anyone hear a signal that's 100 dB down and 60 kHz? Forget the 100 dB down, 0 dB. No one can hear it, your dog can't hear it, but you can measure it on a instrument easily.
Anyone ever buy a test instrument where the manufacturer told you to use it for 100 hours before it works right? No one would buy it!
Anyone ever buy a modern instrument with a rectifier tube? No, you can't hear DC. An engineer who designed a scope with a rectifier tube would get laughed at and fired.
Here's the problem, audio reviewers don't know electronics, so some marketing guy gives them a a pile of nonsense and they have no reference to understand that it's meaningless, so they parrot it like it actually makes a difference in how something sounds or works. So now we have these $100k turntables that are nonsense and we have line conditioning that's useless.
My favorite, stands to keep wires off the floor... no wait vacuum tube rectifiers .. no wait, $1k a foot cables... no wait.....
The only valid testing is a DBT, that's science, everything else is subjectivity.
Most people don't do dbt's...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 10:34am
...they shop
and buy what they like.
Actually no
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 4:39am
We know what makes an amplifier sound a certain way. For example we know people like harmonics. Nelson Pass did a brave thing, good old Nelson! He sat people down in front of amps and asked them what sound they liked. He then designed his amps for that distortion - we like distortion, just certain harmonics. Before Nelson everyone was clamoring about low distortion so he comes out with an amp full of second harmonics, if you look at a scope you can see them. People love his amps, I love second harmonics, I put tubes in front of class D full of second harmonics that I contoured to what I like. No mystery, no voodoo, basic science and at a reasonable cost.
So we know what sounds we like and we know how to get them.
Electronics is a very sophisticated field, there's no amp today that we can't contour to the sound people like - whatever that sound is.
The problem is there's a lot of money in audio so a reviewer who can't hear the difference between two amps or turntables is sunk, he'll never get another piece of equipment to review, that's why they don't do DBT's.
Caveat emptor, I'm giving you the uncommercialized science. When I say class D is the future and it shadows everything else you can bet I've tested it and tested it. Class D can give you any sound you like, it's neutral, go listen to Bruno Putzeys from Purifi.
The problem is you can make class D inexpensively. So what do you think guys like Dan D'Agostino with his $50k amp think about that? Put some more gold on it Dan, that'll make it sound better!
Lots of people like Ford trucks...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 10:40am
...I don't know why.
What is it that is not "decent" about the ...
Submitted by Ortofan on December 27, 2023 - 7:50pm
... $1,100 Technics SL-100C turntable?
https://us.technics.com/products/direct-drive-turntable-sl-100c
https://trackingangle.com/equipment/technics-sl-100c-is-a-grand-bargain
I agree
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 3:51am
Here's the problem, there's some reviewer who thinks he or she can hear the difference between a $1k turntable and a $5K turntable, or $100k turntable. That's why people buy $100k turntables, they think or have been fooled into thinking it sounds better.
You can buy Coca-Cola almost anywhere in the world...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 10:48am
...but the Coke in China tastes different.
Why?
It's still science
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 10:52am
It can be measured scientifically.
"The basic ingredients and process used to make Coca‑Cola are the same in all countries, although people perceive taste in very different ways. It is possible for the same soft drink to vary slightly in taste due to other factors such as the temperature at which it is consumed, the foods with which it is consumed, or the conditions in which it is stored prior to consumption."
source: Coca-Cola
But "to vary slightly due to other factors..."
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 11:19am
...is not very exact.
And what if I don't like it?
Don't drink it!
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 11:25am
That doesn't change the fact that differences can be observed scientifically or amplifiers can't be designed to satisfy different audio tastes.
You're trying to add mystery to audio the same way you tried to add mystery to why Coke tastes different in different countries. Go back and look at your first statement.
Then no mystery in shopping either...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 11:38am
Don't like it, wrong colour, fits with the decor, just a bit too big but will do, on sale, etc....
DBT?
Nah.
Nah?
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 11:45am
The DBT is science, what do you propose we use instead of science? Subjectivity?
"The earth is flat."
"What's the proof?"
"Because I think it is."
That's called subjectivity.
You're sick, you go to a doctor, he says you have high blood pressure, that's called science. You're sick because I think there are pixies on the moon is subjectivity.
It's useless.
Shopping is what we do...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 12:20pm
...dbt is not shopping.
So read tech journals, not Stereophile.
Think about what you're saying
Submitted by mosfet50 on December 28, 2023 - 12:32pm
Can I read Stereophile to see what new music is released? Sure.
Can I read tech journals AND Stereophile? Sure!
What's your point?
DBT's are not informed decisions...
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 12:45pm
...otherwise you have bias.
Blind.
Double.
Mansplaining shopping?
Submitted by ChrisS on December 28, 2023 - 12:47pm
You don't shop much, do you?
ChrisS: the bored troll ... in public display
Submitted by hollowman on December 30, 2023 - 9:33am
Because incel life is unrecoverable and leads to opioid self-medication ... and palliative care.
What an appropriate username...The Hollow Men
Submitted by ChrisS on December 30, 2023 - 12:54pm
Respects to T.S. Elliot
"Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion"
They're the only informed decisions
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 6, 2024 - 10:18am
If we don't use DBT's all that is left is subjectivity.
The world is flat because I think it is.
People thinking they can hear the difference between two resistors but fail miserably trying to do it in a DBT.
Magazine editors don't do DBT's because if they can't hear the difference, and by the way that has happened often, they lose advertisers. Did you ever read a bad review? You never will, they'll lose advertisers.
You think Dan D'Agostino is going to be happy if a reviewer can't hear the difference between his amp and a class D for a fraction of the price? He's scared to death of that and he knows it won't happen in popular audio magazines.
Engineers laugh at audio designs. What do you think would happen if Keysight sold an instrument with a vacuum tube rectifier and then told you to use it for 100 hours before it works right. That's rhetorical, they'd be out of business.
You can't launch that spacecraft to the moon for 100 hours because the transistors have to break in!
You made all that up!
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 2:35pm
Go back to Gr. 5.
They know how to do "science".
Not really
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 6, 2024 - 2:49pm
You can't simply say you made something up, you have to disprove what I said.
Does Keysight tell customers they have to run their instruments for 100 hours before they work right? Never, I own lots of instruments and never saw that once. disprove it.
I'll leave you with the immortal words of Goethe
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 6, 2024 - 5:13pm
"There are none more hopelessly enslaved that those who falsely believe they are free."
Oh, oh, famous quotes at twenty paces!
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 5:38pm
Here goes...
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” -George Orwell
I'm going to take a 2nd shot...
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx
Absolutely no one...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 2:42pm
...does DBT while shopping.
No one.
People should do DBT's
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 6, 2024 - 2:57pm
I do them right at home.
Because reviewers have shown they can't do DBT's they have convinced buyers to listen to their opinions which is how most people buy equipment. They give away magazines because on every other page there's an ad, that's how they sell a magazine for $13 a month when the internet has devastated magazine sales.
Show me a negative review if you think I made it up.
Should'a, would'a, could'a..but...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 4:28pm
No one does dbt to shop.
I'm curious, mosfet50, how do you...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 4:50pm
...do a dbt at home?
Do you live alone?
You're missing the point, mosfet50
Submitted by rschryer on January 7, 2024 - 7:24pm
DBTs are not part of the audiophile culture. DBTs are a cock blocker to our enjoyment of the audio hobby. We're not engineers, we're music lovers.
That aside, if you come here, you should, at minimum, not demand things from us—not in our own backyard. It's rude, and narrow-minded. We don't owe you anything, and maybe your perspective is lacking in self-awareness. Your opinion is just that: your opinion.
Oh, and audiophiles do AB gear comparisons all the time. That's how we choose our gear. We just don't feel the need to do it blindfolded.
I didn't demand anything, I'm giving you science and reason
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 8, 2024 - 3:19am
DBT's are a scientific tool to differentiate components without bias, once we have chosen the components we enjoy the sound of there is no reason to constantly do DBT's. Am I stating the obvious here? Audio reviewers don't do DBT's for the same reason they don't give bad reviews, advertisers would stop sending equipment to review and stop advertising in their magazines. Look at your magazine, an ad on every other page. What would happen if a reviewer couldn't hear the difference between a $1k amp and $20k amp? Let me remind you that it was a reviewer who raved about a $3k amp driven by a $5 LM3886 chip! It was also a reviewer who thought he could hear the difference between different batteries powering a circuit, which is scientifically impossible - you can't hear DC.
If we can hear the difference between two components in an A/B comparison then we can hear them in a DBT - a priori.
The difference is that a DBT removes bias, intended or otherwise. (cognitive dissonance)
DBT's are not part of your audiophile culture. Maybe that's how audiophiles got stands to keep wires off the floor because they think they sound better
and vacuum tube rectifiers because they think they sound better than solid state which is scientifically impossible.
And, yes, I have designed instruments to allow me to DBT different amplifiers that I have designed right in my own home. It's called science and every audio amplifier uses the same formulas as every other instrument, the only difference is the function of the instrument. If you can't measure it you can't hear it. I have instruments that measure down to picoamps. There is no living creature that can hear differences that minute - none. Can you hear 250kHz, no creature can, can you hear the difference between 100kHz and 100,001 Hz? No, no creature can but we can easily measure it. We know how to make amplifiers to sound specific ways, electronic engineering is a very sophisticated science. Ask Nelson Pass about how to do that, he sat people in a room and asked them what sound they like then he designed amps to sound that way.
It's science and reason, what you do is up to you, it doesn't change how I design, listen or evaluate.
What's rude are the ad hominem attacks by some of the people here.
That's a lot of opinion...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 8, 2024 - 8:48am
Mosfet50, go back to Gr.4 to learn the "scientific method"...
"In fourth grade, students will continue to develop skills in posing questions and predicting outcomes, planning and conducting simple investigations, collecting and analyzing data, constructing explanations, and communicating information about the natural world."
Go to college to learn how to use DBT properly.
No one does dbt for audio reviewing ...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 8, 2024 - 9:04am
...or shopping, mosfet50.
No one.
Re: People should do DBT's
Submitted by John Atkinson on January 9, 2024 - 9:42am
Show me a negative review if you think I made it up.
A recent example of a review with negative findings: www.stereophile.com/content/infigo-method-3-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements.
John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
That's not a bad review!
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 9, 2024 - 4:40pm
"No matter: I was seduced by the Method 3's warmth, beauty, range of color, and smoothness on top. Recordings that had previously sounded too bright and edgy in my listening room were now listenable, and those that were ideally recorded sounded smoother, with more color differentiation than ever. " JVS
You found a missing ground on the XLR but still buttered it over.
Re: They're the only informed decisions
Submitted by John Atkinson on January 9, 2024 - 9:37am
Magazine editors don't do DBT's because if they can't hear the difference, and by the way that has happened often, they lose advertisers.
I have taken part in more than 100 blind tests in the past 50 years, both single-blind and double-blind. In those tests, I identified to a statistically significant degree: 2 amplifiers (one solid-state, one tubed); loudspeaker cables; interconnects (same interconnect but with the grounding shield connected at alternate ends); series capacitors (electrolytic and plastic film with same measured value); speakers with/without spikes; D/A processors; MQA vs hi-rez PCM; an 0.5dB difference in tweeter level; and many many loudspeakers.
Did you ever read a bad review? You never will, they'll lose advertisers.
Losing advertisers never bothered me, because they will return. As I wrote in 2009 - see www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/communities/index.html - it was my predecessor as the editor of Hi-Fi News & Record Review magazine, the late John Crabbe, who defined for me the relationship between a magazine's editorial integrity and the advertisers who financially support it (readers, sadly, are never a significant source of income, given the high costs of distribution): "If you tell the truth about components you review, there will always be a small percentage of companies at any one time who are not advertising in your pages. But if you publish the truth, you will have a good magazine. And if you have a good magazine, you will have readers. And as long as you have readers, disgruntled advertisers will eventually return. But if you don't tell the truth, you won't have a good magazine. And if you don't have a good magazine, you won't have readers, at least not for long. And if you don't have readers, you won't have advertisers."
Amen to that thought, John.
John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
Are you serious?
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 9, 2024 - 5:54pm
That's two DBT's a year and where are the links to those tests? Under what conditions and independent source were those tests conducted? After your comment on the "bad" review I want to read all the info, not just your opinion of how you did. And how many DBT's did you fail miserably on?
How many pieces of equipment have you reviewed over those 50 years?
But let's cut to the chase.
Regardless whether one's eyes are opened or closed science has established that the hearing itself doesn't change:
"As in the main experiment, our results provide evidence for the absence of any difference in perceptual sensitivity and criterion for open versus closed eyes."
Source: National Institute of Health
If you can hear it with your eyes open, you can hear it with your eyes closed. The difference is that with closed eyes we don't have the luxury of knowing which piece of equipment is which.
The result of that unknowing is doubt, you don't do DBT's because you doubt your ability to differentiate between products.
DBT's are science, without science all that remains is subjectivity - opinion. The world is flat because I think it is!
Stereophile doesn't do DBT's because manufacturers wouldn't send equipment in to be reviewed and they wouldn't advertise. They understand that if their product sounded no better than a product at a fraction of the price, they would lose a lot of sales.
It's electronic engineering, it's far more difficult to design a cell phone in the GHz range than any audio equipment. Reviewers and manufacturers want to create mystery around audio designs where there's none - voodoo.
That quote wasn't your statement, it was the statement of John Crabbe in 1976, it has nothing to do with you or your relationship to your advertisers.
The bottom line, audio has become voodoo, with all kinds of nonsense - tube rectifiers, preconditions, $25k cables, toroidal transformers, etc., etc.
I put the blame for a good part of that on audio reviewers who ran out of superlatives in 1976. Dan D'Agostino with an ad in Sterophile saying his amp is "better than perfection". No Dan, that's why it's called perfection, it's not possible to have anything greater than perfection! Geeze, you can't make this stuff up, simply amazing.
If you can hear the difference then prove it
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 6, 2024 - 10:22am
Prove you can hear the difference in a DBT, I'm still waiting for a magazine audio reviewer to do that.
(actually I'm not, it won't ever happen)
What's it got to do with interfacing with a magazine?
Go back to school.
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 2:40pm
Gr. 5's know how to do "science".
Actually, I believe young people are learning about scientific inquiry in Gr.4!
Prove to everyone that you...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 6, 2024 - 5:46pm
...are real, mosfet50.
Maybe you are really mosfet49!
We'll never know...
From Jan. 1986 issue of Audio Magazine
Submitted by supamark on January 8, 2024 - 1:32am
Double blind test of the Tandberg 3009a mono amplifier (which used MOSFETs lol). Reviewer was Larry Greenhill, aka LG because he did a lot of reviews for Stereophile as well at the late, lamented Audio Magazine. The results were inclusive overall. 38 years ago.
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/80s/Audio-1986-01.pdf
That was easy, maybe learn to google.
Mark Phillips,
Contributor, Soundstage! Network.
PS - they have nearly all the old issues of Audio there, from 1947 until it shut down in 2000. It was unlike any other magazine covering consumer sound.
You're making my point!
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 8, 2024 - 3:54am
"He made 16 identification attempts over a 11/2 - hour listening session, using a Bryston 413. (dual -mono)
amplifier for comparison. The results were 12 correct out of 16 trials, a statistically significant score"
"During this second attempt, he achieved only seven correct identifications out of 16 trials..."
How do we know the conditions were the same? Because he said so? Do we get to examine the conditions? There had to be a reason if he could do the test one time and not the next. What was the reason, did he change something he didn't realize -who proofed his testing? One person, two tests and DBT's are worthless? Because he failed the second DBT isn't the fault of the DBT. The methodology was flawed.
Would his subjective perceptions be any better? No, one day he might love the amp the next day, after a fight with his wife, he might hate it. This is the problem with subjectivity.
The results of this testing (Audio 1986) can also indicate...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 8, 2024 - 10:32am
...that DBT is not appropriate for audio reviewing.
Too many unknown variables...you said so yourself, mosfet50.
There is nothing about another listener's testing conditions that applies to my own experience of using any component in my own stereo system in my own room listening to my own music.
You said DBT was never done
Submitted by supamark on January 8, 2024 - 10:32pm
I showed you that you were 100% wrong, they were doing it at least 38 years ago. I don't think you understand this whole "point making" thing.
Not doing it, did it.
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 9, 2024 - 5:10am
Are you serious? That was one guy once 38 years ago! Who's doing it today? Site me any major magazine doing DBT's routinely today? Why aren't they, that's the question? They don't work? No, they do work, it's called science, what reviewers do is called anecdotal. The world is flat because I think it is!
They're not doing it because if they can't hear the difference in equipment at markedly different prices, and many, many times they can't, then what happens?
You think if I make an expensive amp I'm going to take the chance it will be upstaged by a cheap amp? Not on your life! You think I'm going to advertise in that magazine? That's rhetorical - never!
Disprove the statement I just made.
Can you do it, can you hear differences in a DBT? Go into an audio dealer sit down, close your eyes and tell dealer to switch between amps without telling you which one is playing.
You're fighting science with subjectivity - you can't win. Greenfield did it 38 years ago, do we have any way of validating his methodology, his set up? Were there people proofing his testing procedures. Did anyone question why there was a disparity? Not that I can see.
In order for audio sales to work today there has to be mystery, otherwise you can't sell people ridiculously expensive equipment, preconditioners, cables, tube rectifiers, etc. DBT's take the mystery out of audio, they bring it back down to earth, we all benefit from that, the manufacturers and reviewers get checked, right now it's the wild west.
Oh, oh, we love conspiracies...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 9, 2024 - 9:04am
...don't we?
The total copy where dbt's are performed by Larry Greenhill and David Clark and reported in the articles in Audio magazine are pretty well "statistically insignificant."
And the resulting effects of those dbt's on audio reviewing...?
Yep, statistically zero.
Mosfet49, you are a "perfect" conspiracist! You can be a whole committee just on your own!
I'm curious, mosfet50
Submitted by rschryer on January 9, 2024 - 4:49pm
If I prefer driving a Mustang Cobra to a Porsche 911, am I wrong?
Poor analogy
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 9, 2024 - 6:11pm
Apples to Oranges.
We do blind tests all the time:
"I Did a Blind Taste Test of 8 Aldi Products Versus Name Brands — Here’s How It Went"
"At last! I could taste a difference! One hummus had a distinctively better texture. We were told that one brand was Cedar’s Organic Original Hummus ($3.99) and the other was Aldi’s SimplyNature Organic Hummus ($2.29). I liked one so much better, so I figured it was the Cedar’s brand. But I was wrong! The Aldi version was definitely the better one."
source: The Kitchn.com
Audio listeners who don't do them are afraid - it's based in doubt.
"As in the main experiment, our results provide evidence for the absence of any difference in perceptual sensitivity and criterion for open versus closed eyes."
source: National Institute of Health
I think the difference here, mosfet50
Submitted by rschryer on January 9, 2024 - 6:32pm
.. is that you're more cerebral, and we're more sensual.
Why do you like DBTs so much when they depend on human perception?
DBT's are a tool, one tool
Submitted by mosfet50 on January 10, 2024 - 6:35am
Listening to music is human perception, the sense of hearing. Just like the taste test I posted DBT's allow us to make, as much as possible, unbiased choices.
If we don't use DBT's what do you propose we replace them with? I've already showed that there are no differences to hearing perception with open and closed eyes. Remember our goal is compare two products with the least bias, DBT's remove personal bias and subjectivity feeds it.
We're not trying to determine which product sounds best, that's a relative term. We're determining which product we personally like the sound of most. I'm not taking personal preferences out of audio equipment selection, I'm refining it. I still love audio on several levels and there's still subjectivity right down to the music I listen to on a particular night.
You may love the looks of one amp and despise the looks of another that sounds equally enjoyable to you or even better and take home the one you like the looks of, I'm not refuting that choice.
Hahahahahaha,,...!!
Submitted by ChrisS on January 10, 2024 - 10:25am
Answering all your own questions, mosfet26!
No one has been paralyzed by the vast lack of DBT's when shopping for McIntosh amps, Ford trucks or medium size Tampons!
(Ok, maybe you have...)
What goes around comes around.......
Submitted by Trevor_Bartram on December 27, 2023 - 11:19pm
I was given a 70s Leak amplifier, that looked uncannily like the 230, by a friend returning to the UK about 15 years ago. It went to the Sally Army during a recent equipment clear out. Now I wish I'd retro fitted it with modern electronics, though I suspect NOS switch gear would be the difficult to find. Retro dreams.....
Talos2000
Submitted by Talos2000 on December 28, 2023 - 6:07am
Many, many years ago, my system comprised a Linn Sondek, Naim 32/250 and AAD Solstice speakers. It sounded wonderful. Then the Naim 250 failed, and back to Naim it went for an estimate of repairs. Naim proposed a total rebuild to the latest specs, and the price seemed beyond reason, so I balked. What to do? For bizarre reasons, my friend lent me his old Leak Stereo 30 Plus. I removed the preamp boards and connected the Naim 32 directly to the inputs on the power amp boards. This was intended to tide me over while I figured out what to do next. That wasn't how it worked out. Not only could the Leak handle the Solstice's difficult load with ease, it made me forget all about the Naim 250. I used it for two solid years until the owner decided he needed it back, and never once in that time did I miss the Naim. So I know Leak .... and I'm so happy to read that the new Leak - whose styling is almost identical, btw - offers so many of the attributes I found so appealing in the old one.
I will continue to admonish, chide, and...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 7, 2024 - 4:04pm
...ridicule you and others for your lack of understanding of scientific methodology.
Otherwise, if you learn how to apply "science" correctly...
Submitted by ChrisS on January 7, 2024 - 3:41pm
...then I will have nothing further to say.
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