SoTM sMS-200 ulrta with sPS-500

[debt_collector]

I ordered the SoTM sMS-200ulrta sPS-500 for a home demo which will allow me to audion it before deciding whether to go ahead and purchase it.

I will post my initial impressions hopefully next week!

[MNG]

Any news on this yet?

[debt_collector]

I've been listening to the sms200ultra and the sps500 for a couple of weeks. I perceived a number of improvements when running my music via the SoTM pair compared with music performance of my audiophile PC standard  usb port . I noticed an increase in clarity particularly at high frequencies.  The bass sounds tighter also and the stereo imaging appears better. 

 

BUT then I ran some blind comparisons with the help of my lovely partner.  Here is what we did. We repeated this on two occasions on different days. Each of us played two tracks for the other 1. Peter Gabriel's Boy in a bubble and 2. Leonard Cohen's Banjo . Initially, I played for my partner  track 1 four times or 'takes' with random changes between the SoTM and the standard usb devices and then did the same with track two.  Then my partner repeated this procedure for me. I was very surprised at the results. Both my partner and i identified the best sounding 'take' as the ones played with the SoTM pair. However, both of us also thought that another 'take' sounded as good but that take was played via the audiophile PC usb port.

 

It is fair to say that neither of us could reliably or easily tell the difference in quality between the two. When listening blind the differences that sounded distinct when we knew which usb device we were listening to seemed a lot less clear cut.  What people think about this? Would anyone we willing to replicate this experiment and report their impressions?