Agreed. It matters not one jot to me which won as I own none of them but yep, how kit (that is there and supposedly part of the tests) can not be included and then a winner declared is laughable.
Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702
Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2
Location: France
Posts: 198
I'm allo.
I think that Soundcheck is not really to declare a winner. Rather they show what a panel of judges have preferred on a double blind test using multiple amps .
Judy testing shows that your specific amp (and probably speakers) can change how a specific DAC sounds (of course) in a home setup
PecanPI, Khadas , Katana and Primo were tested(even more boards) first on a Ncore amp
This is what Judy said on the findings : "i think it's clear. We likedPecan Pi, but we liked 5 boards better than PecanPi. we did second round on analog amp only with the 5 boards, because short of time (after 10pm), as i wrote before. PecanPi could have won round two, but we don't know now."
On the second amp , they took the first 5 DACs and listened again .
Judy is very clear that all DACs were very good , its just sound preferences that make the difference (splitting hairs).