I was able to. IMO the two are neck and neck. It wasn't a long comparison, just two days. I just decided to keep the ref anni cuz it still is a landmark ARC product, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I cannot live with the new volume control tapering chosen by arc where all the gain is concentrated at the lower level of the volume control.
Btw it may also have been an unfair comparison cuz just after at 2862 hours the left channel of my system turned noisy. I checked the 6550 in the power supply and sure enough the one at the rear ( left channel) had turned gassy. I was lucky that I had two svetlana winged c spares and replaced both 6550's though the front 6550 looked fine visually. Anyway problem solved. I can't say though that the sound improved with the change of the regulator tubes.
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