I've put together a "sequel" to my previous listening test comparing the line outputs of 3 DACs. The new test is the result of feedback from several participants from the last challenge. This one uses the headphone outputs driving real headphones instead of line outputs, a new DAC (of sorts), some new music and a few other twists.
Comments from the several dozen people who have responded (in public and privately) to the previous test have been really interesting. Some haven't heard any differences while some have correctly identified several of the blind files. And some are expressing surprising preferences (more later when I provide the password to unlock the file descriptions for everyone). Here's one thread:
Head-Fi DAC Listening Challenge (the previous test) (http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/542968/nuforce-udac-2-listening-challenge)
I've started a new thread as I'm looking for specific votes this time to hopefully keep a numeric score and they're entirely new test files:
Listening Test Sequel (blog article) (http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/dac-listening-sequel.html)
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_gnU30vMbtYg/TXVrgeh8dOI/AAAAAAAAAUI/aNEekBfq-rw/nuforce%20udac2%20cx300%20recording_thumb[1].jpg)
For those interested, the results of the two informal listening tests have been published. It wasn't easy to find an objective way to quantify the results, but I at least made an attempt. Even looking at just the raw data, some preferences were relatively clear:
DAC Listening Challenge Results (http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/dac-listening-challenge-results.html)