Has anyone ever done an extensive blind test on portable amps?

[ieatteflon]

I'm wondering why blind tests are not done over at headfi. I've listened to a lot of portable amps and I dont understand the ratings and rave reviews some receive over other.

Between my ppa2, pimeta and mini3, I dont think I can reliably pick out which amp I'm listening to at any given moment.

It leads me to believe that the prettier the amp is, the better some folks think it sounds. On the other hand, maybe I have tin ears.

[grawk]

Blind tests are a pain in the ass. There have been lots of comparisons done by people who aren't biased, and the prettiest amp doesn't always win. People often overestimate the value of a portable amp, but there are differences, and they're not always apparent. It all depends on the source, amp, and headphones.

[Sherwood]

Also, head-fi forbids double blind test discussions, so even if they had been done they're tricky to post.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I'm wondering why blind tests are not done over at headfi. I've listened to a lot of portable amps and I dont understand the ratings and rave reviews some receive over other.

Between my ppa2, pimeta and mini3, I dont think I can reliably pick out which amp I'm listening to at any given moment.

It leads me to believe that the prettier the amp is, the better some folks think it sounds. On the other hand, maybe I have tin ears.

In a bling test I'm... Oh wait, I mean in a blind test I am not sure I can tell whether I am listening to my Pico, iBasso D3 or iBasso D2 viper with rolled opamps because the three sound so similar. I could recognize a 2MOVE sound signature apart from them, but I might even screw up trying to identify a D2 Boa or Predator from those. I rated them all as between 9.5 to 10, out of 10, because they were all so close.

(my 10 being based on the best I have heard instead of an imaginary 10; where if I invoke the imaginary "10 that we've never heard" then the highest I've heard is a 9.0)

At Blutarsky's house we could not identify whether we were listening to his Melos SHA Gold, Zana Deux or my Woo WA6 maxed with Sophia rectifier without looking.