(16-Jan-2018, 03:39)snbeall Wrote: And streamy, just to be clear, there is a significant difference at 45-50 between the Gold and the Elevate. In fact it is a dramatic difference. So much so, that the Gold at 50 makes the Elevate sound anemic until you raise the Elevates to the upper 50’s or 60.
I did the same testing you are doing with a pair of old generation Silvers and the Golds when they came out. My observations in blind testing as well as I could (as you described using two rooms and adjusting the volume subjectively to the same loudness, also measured by a dB meter with pink noise). The difference was very clear and confirmed in blind testing by non ‘audio geeks’ as my wife and my parents (both over 70 years old and untrained music listeners). I attributed the main difference to the new ADH2 circuits and the new tweeter of the Golds. So, with your test results that exactly describe the same tonal differences I experienced there is no better SQ from the Elevates compared to the early genration Whites and Silvers, they had the exact same tonality, but less floor noise. The lows can be better controllered by a better amp stage and my Silvers have in the hights a measurable fade out starting at around 6kHz whereas the Golds are much more linear in the hights up to 20k. But the much higher presence in the mids in my opinion is a DSP tuning or again a difference in the power amp design when the ADH2 Asic is the same as in the Gold. The mid and bass drivers are the same in all three models.
