All this posturing and jesting about the merits and demerits of the various boards, is entertaining at times. But it makes me wonder are these confrontations really serious, or just literary exercises in providing zingers in a spirit of fun among musicians? If you play out live, does the average listener or consumer of our performances give a twit about the nuances of each board? Just curious: What if you took a random sample of nonmusicians, blindfolded them, and played them a selection of tunes from each of the major arranger boards in the same key, tempo, etc. then asked them to rate the sound/performace? Might the results be the same or different coming from arranger players themselves? The features we care most about would probably be wasted on most audience members I know.