@Blumlein 88 @amirm
I found a link with blind tests between dacs and they heared differences and could discern wich dac was playing.
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/dac-blind-test-series.7518/
They both measure bad as r2r technology.
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/ec-designs-mos16-dac-measurements.7568/
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/airist-r2-r-dac-measurements.6418/
Maybe that's why they success the test.
But they seems to enjoy the sound better than topping d30.
Answering the last bit, that is their bias, being insulted that I recommended the D30 back when they were praising the much worse implemented Schiit DACs.
On the larger point, good for them to do some blind testing. There is not enough trials there for me to trust the results. I like to see 10 trials, passing at least 8 times. I have frequently managed to get a few answers right in blind tests, only to be lost after that.
Here is an examples I have saved:
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v1.3.2
2014/07/09 17:39:55
File A: C:\Users\Amir\Music\Arny's 30 Hz Jitter File\Arny's new files\no jitter.wav
File B: C:\Users\Amir\Music\Arny's 30 Hz Jitter File\Arny's new files\30 Hz jitter barely noticable level .015.flac
17:39:55 : Test started.
17:40:40 : 00/01 100.0%
17:41:30 : 01/02 75.0%
17:41:41 : 02/03 50.0%
17:41:52 : 03/04 31.3%
17:42:04 : 04/05 18.8%
17:42:19 : 05/06 10.9%
17:42:32 : 06/07 6.3%
17:42:46 : 07/08 3.5%
Looking good up to this point. I am getting 7 out of 8 right with chances of guessing just 3.5%. But then the wheels fall off the wagon indicating I had not at all identified the differences I thought I had:
17:42:58 : 07/09 9.0%
17:43:12 : 07/10 17.2%
17:43:27 : 07/11 27.4%
17:43:42 : 08/12 19.4%
17:43:53 : 08/13 29.1%
17:44:15 : 08/14 39.5%
17:44:46 : 09/15 30.4%
17:45:00 : 10/16 22.7%
17:45:12 : 11/17 16.6%
17:45:30 : 12/18 11.9%
17:45:52 : 12/19 18.0%
17:46:23 : 13/20 13.2%
17:46:28 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 13/20 (13.2%)
This is total failure. This is why I say we can't go by just 4 or 5 trials.
I also worry about subjective remarks after the testing:
I have performed countless blind tests of DACs, amps, etc. I can tell you with confidence that the observation #1 (sound stage) never enters the equation. In every case I have heard that, I have traced that to channels being reversed in one unit versus the other. Or the levels not being matched.
In contrast, I hear that as the number 1 difference in sighted evaluation of just about every gear. So my antenna is up, way up that the tester did not hear what he says he has heard.
Only bullets 3 and 5 point to potential difference between the DACs and ability to detect those, requires one being trained which the tester is not. Otherwise, they again read like what subjectivists say in sighted testing.
When the DACs test poorly the main difference I can detect is exaggeration of high frequencies. That this is absent in above, is worrisome. Harmonic distortion naturally increases high frequency energy leading to exaggeration there.
Overall then, most of the characteristics read like imagined differences, not real and what can be explained objectively.
I give him A+ for testing/effort, but C for results being accurate.