"** TWs listening tests are totally invalid - cos he used the audiophool method.

Machine A plays, stop, muck about, have a chat then machine B plays.

Absolute ********. "

Actually with stamped CDs it would be valid to just use two copies of the same album. If there is ay doubt switch them but we know that sound quality had very little to do with the audio quality. It is just a matter of how many errors does it have to cover up.

They are stamped, you get two of them right next to each other from the shelf and they are likely to be the same batch and have the same errors. And the only errors that will have any real effect on sound quality will be those pertaining to the deemphasis.

Two disks and a toggle switch would do just fine. then switch the disks ad see if the more favorable rating follows it ort stays with the player.

Kida like splitting a bag of weed when your scalee is broken. "You split I'll pick" or vice versa. Whoever is splittlg is going to get them as close as humanly possible because he knows he gets the smaller one. Or whichever one is perceived as smaller by the picker.

Ever hear of scraping ? They use like a gouge to scrape metal plates to within millionths of an inch. There is no reference because these ARE the reference. they are the standard to which the ways of machines must adhere for flatness and straightness.

they use three plates, why ? Well, you blue it up and then separate the plates and observe the bluing. This really is an art. You can get two plates pretty flat, but there is ONE way they can be off and you can't tel. That is if one is slightly convex and the other concave. That is the reason for the third plate. It makes that type of error detectable because to match perfectly the third plate would have to be concave or convex and thus would math one of the two other plates but not the other.

In other words, all this fiddling switching disks every few minutes is a waste of time. Just switch them and rerun the comparison.

Actually I doubt very mny people can hear ant difference between cD players, butin the US would always prefer the one that has a slightly higher output level because it is louder.

You want an audio A/B comparison ? Golden Earring - Moontan, on vinyl. Compare the US version to the European version. BIG difference.