Vote

Thought I'd share that Mehmet Ali Sanlikol's big band album whatsnext?, used in the test above, is available on CD on the DUNYA Bandcamp page, http://dunya.bandcamp.com/album/whatsnext

Not as cool as having the vinyl but at least it's available!

I voted A but can honestly hear very little difference, admittedly playing through crappy work Dell laptop with my Etymotic ER-4P IEMs plugged in.

Although I preferred C a little, of this group I'd go for the $99 spread. There just wasn't that much difference -- certainly not $500 worth. I had to listen on a couple different setups to make sure I wasn't imagining the subtle difference I thought I heard. There certainly wasn't as much difference as between the mid-priced pre-amps from the earlier test.

File C seemed to be the best, but not by a wide margin.

With my setup, B sounded the best, able to hear each instrument more clearly, sounded more three dimensional.

Tonality better for me with geek out + b&w p5

I thought that A and B were similar, but B was the lightest in overall bass presentation. C was the loudest and might have been why it was selected most. Once normalized I found it somewhat hard to choose between C and D, but C carried slightly more bass weight to me, but both C and D presented the piano tone better than A or B. Considering that one of them was $99, that one is a pretty decent bargain I would say. I also thought that at the end of the track all 4 of them did a good job presenting the sax solo in a decent sized space with good air.

C had more "there" there. I could clearly follow the bass line in C, much less so in the others. D in particular was limp in the bass. Instruments floated apart in C and were mushed together to varying degrees in the others.

But more importantly, what a great band! Discovering new musical talent is way more fun than fussing about tiny differences in gear.

I first looked at the RMS (average volume) levels for each track, and adjusted accordingly. To even the playback volume to the loudest track, levels should be raised:
A) +.31
B) + 2.31
C) 0
D) + 1.19

Using replay gain in Foobar for windows would also do the trick.

Conclusions:
A is my least favorite. Sounds like a big cut in the midrange. B had the most midrange presence, leaning toward the edgy side. C was smoother. D was my favorite, or maybe C. They were close.

I voted C. D was close. I'm hoping C is the ifi iPhono. I can say the ifi iPhono is better than the NAD PP-375 phono card I was using

Off topic, but I enjoyed your Jackie Mason impression on the Howard Stern Show - I hope you're right about him buying a turntable within 3 months!

After level matching I picked B. To me it had the best imaging though it had less bass then C/D.

C/D sound *very* similar to the point where it's hard to tell them apart. After listening to the sample from the bandcamp page (http://dunya.bandcamp.com/track/whats-next) I think the bass presentation is exaggerated in both these samples.

To me A is a big step down from the others. Sounds muddy in comparison.

My verdict is based on listening through a pair of Audioengine2 speakers directly linked to a HP computer. The sound quality thus might be limited by my four-year old PC. Through this setup, 'A' seems to draw me more to the music and excite me more. Its bass is a little muddy compared to 'C', but the sound in 'A' is less grainy and feels more natural and organic. I am a kind of new to this HiFi hobby, and don't know much about the sound description with technical terms. So I just judge the music sound by comparing to what I heard in concert halls or live music.

Well, that's a tough room, for sure - he doesn't mince words. You weren't bad - if you were, they never would have contacted you and brought you in. The guy who did High Pitch was spot on, and had really good material...look at it this way, you planted a seed in the King of All Media's head. T-minus 3 months...

To me, A was the most dry, the least tonally present. The piano and horns don't sound as full as with the other three. In my system, (Sennheiser HD650's, Burson headphone amp, JRiver MC v19 off a desktop computer with an ASUS Xonar Essence SC) C had way more base than the others. Not just more base, but more total lower energy. It made the piano warmer, fuller, and gave the horns a pleasant burn. But, for me, I found it also had a overall thickening effect. Less distinction between the instruments, a little congested. D had base weight and excellent tone. The horns, particularly the saxes sounded great in D. Lots of character from the reeds audible. The base was tighter to me, and it had the best cymbals crash (just before the sax solo at the end) of the four.

to compare analog sound via digital files?

There is no other way to do this test other than mail each of us 45,s he cut in his garage . 2496 is certainly good enough for discerning listeners. We can certainly hear the differences and I bet you can to.

To me A is clearly the worst. I could be though satisfied with either of the other three. Between C and D, which sound similar indeed, I would prefer C. But my preference goes to B for the clarity and texture that provides, which make me to feel it more tube like, I guess ...

I wouldn't feel like I was being deprived of a musical experience with any of them. Having said that I think that the sins are mostly of omission. However I would have to give the nod to C. It seems like there is a little more "air" around the instruments. The trumpets and sax have a little more bite.

File A: fun, but lacked detail
File B: mmhmm, where did the bass go?
File C: great imaging, neutral with a touch of excitement. My favourite
File D: close enough to C but a touch brighter

Was there a reason you went with this choice in cartridge and stylus? (In other words, is there a review of that combo coming soon?) I'm thinking of putting my old V15VMR into service again, but I am not sure of which stylus to go with (or having Soundsmith have a go at it).

I'm surprised "C" is first choice, I placed it 3rd. But agree that "A" sounded worst.

B - 1st - Outstanding involvement with the music. Sounds neutral with great rhythm.

D - 2nd - Smoothest sounding, with excellent timing and good bass. A bit too layer back.

C - 3rd - Good tonality but sounds constricted with average timing, not as bad as 1.

A - 4th - Similar characteristics to 3 but worse. Constricted with poor timing. I was not drawn into the music.