Houses Of The Holy (album): a blind listening test

Hello folks,
as per request and thanks to @RingoStarr39, who provided one of the sources, I set up a blind listening test on Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy (the album). So here you have 3 excerpts A, B, C (3'00") from 3 different tracks (The Rain Song, Over The Hills And Far Away, No Quarter), ripped from different CD masterings, in FLAC format.

Dropbox - Houses Of The Holy »

The samples have been level adjusted so that the excerpts have the same Replay Gain values (0.00 dB, based on EBU R128 standard with target of 89dB sound pressure level). The polarity of the tracks has been checked. The samples comprise vocal sections.

It would be great if you could listen to the samples and compare them to each other, reporting which one sounds the best on your system and why.

Instructions:

• It's recommended reading the discussion after you have listened to the samples and voted, in order to escape confirmation bias.
• You can choose no more than one sample.
• You can't view the results before you vote, in order to escape confirmation bias.
• Votes are publicly displayed.
  
• The test will expire in exactly 10 days from now and you can change your mind until the end.
• The sources will be revealed after the expiration of this period, when the poll is closed (and it's impossible to vote).

I hope this blind test will catch your interest.
And of course I hope you'll have fun.
G.

 

I go with C,i hear a bit more clarity,B is the worst.

 

Best: B
Good: A
Worst: C
From best to worst, it just seems that more eq and more compression is added without any benefit in clarity. To make it clear, the differences are not huge, none of the samples is bad in absolute terms. But B is the most natural and dynamic sounding to me.

 

B sounds "wrong" to me... bass-shy and harsh.
Difficult to pick between A and C, both of them have their merits, but A sounds slightly better on my system.

 

ok, I have not spent much time on them and I am not the bigest LZ fan. It was more or less fun for me.

From the brief listening I can tell I prefer the sample A. C is on the other end, it sounded sterile and less dynamic. B was weird, I was not sure whether it is equalisation or the tape is damaged.

 

On my computer speakers, sample B is the best sounding. It sounds more natural

 

LOL. B is the best and worst according to these responses. Which is why none of this should matter.

 

I vote for A

I vote for A becouse I like what sounds to me more Natural and I prefer the Vocals on A than C and B
. C has more clarity but maybe too much for me , listen to the vocals on 2:40 up to 2: 45,
on A they sound natural although the voice has high tone, on C they are a bit Harsh and loud.

B sounds thin and the vocals don't have impact and presence.
The vocals have impact and presence on A and C .

A beautiful album.

 

I chose A because it was very crankable. I suspect this is the Diament. The bass was super fat, bordering on muddy, but sounds great cranked. It suffered a bit in the clarity department compared to the other two though.

B was bass shy and had a strange boost in the mid range. Didn’t sound very natural at all. I think this is the Marino.

C had much better bass than B, and nice clarity in the high end, although maybe too much so. Seemed a bit too bright for my taste. I think this is the Davis.

Funny enough, none of them were clearcut winners. It came down to A and C for me. A if you want to crank it and really move those woofers and C if you’re in the mood for more clarity and detail.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together, it was fun. I’m curious to see if I guessed the sources correctly. I actually recently picked up a Diament HOTH at the recommendation of this forum and have been meaning to do a listening test like this. Saved me the the trouble!

 

First of all I didn't like B - sounds futzed with in a bad way.

A is the warmest and I prefer Over The Hills And Far Away on this compared to C, it sounds a little more natural.

C is a bit more open/clear than A and I preferred No Quarter on this compared to A, where I think it gets a little too muddy.

So I can't vote in the poll as my preference is either A or C depending on the track

 

You shouldn't vote based on computer speakers.

 

A for being the most natural and dynamic sounding to me.

 

Different opinions, different ears, different systems do matter.

 

Did you listen to them using the system listed in your profile page?

 

(If only there were more such tests - as well as relevant technical specifications - on this forum. This is the fun for audiophile music fans.)

 

I ended up voting for A as I suspect this would be my preference over the entire album.....and I wanted to see the poll results

 

I go for C as it was this sample that allowed me to engage with the music by literally putting the band in the room. The others weren't so convincing with B being the clear loser.

 

I intend to listen to these samples on my big system, but couldn't wait

 

The vote can actually be changed until the poll expires (Oct 28).

 

I liked A the best by a considerable margin.
C was second.
B was a distant third.

"A" simply had the smoothest, and most natural EQ IMO. "C" had low bass present, but was missing mid bass warmth. "B" just sounded thin and harsh.

 

I went with A. C is the obvious loser. B maybe sounded better initially to me because maybe the high end is bit more forward.
A seems more natural though.
After listening I put the samples in Audacity to look at them.
The waveform on B is inverted, upside down compared to the other two.

 

After listening once on my inexpensive Altec Lansing computer speakers which faithfully reproduce some back ground hash coming somewhere from my computer I chose A as best, detailed and airy although the last track sounded dull. B was not as detailed and Track 2 sounded harsher than A. Track 3 was not as dull as on A. C had more treble, even sounding a bit "swishy". The voice sounded good on track 2. Track 3 had more treble. Overall, A then C then B.

 

Good pickup - maybe you should invert B in Audacity, save it as Sample D and have another listen to see if there is any difference. I'm sure the OP would welcome a ring-in

 

A, B and C in that order for Rain Song and Over The Hills, but A, C and B for No Quarter. B came bottom on No Quarter due a lack of bass, which is a little strange, because B doesn't have the same problem on the other two tracks.

I listened using Fostex TH900 headphones and a Denon DA-300USB DAC/headphone amp.

Thanks, as usual, to grandegi for preparing the samples.

 

You're welcome, Isaac. For what it's worth, on my system the lack of bass in B is dramatic on all the tracks and it's clearly the loser; A sounds the best on Over The Hills, whilst I had a hard time picking the best source on the remaining two tracks, for which in the end I think A slightly prevails in terms of "crispness" (if it's the correct term).