Carbon Fiber vs. Wood Harp Tasting

Listen to 5 different harps and see which you prefer!

Do Carbon Fiber harps sound as good as wood harps? You decide!

A harp tasting is an event held at a harp conference, in which many different kinds of harps are put behind a curtain. The same piece is played on each harp, so listeners can judge the sound without being able to see, and be distracted by, the appearance or their pre-conceived notions of what the harps will sound like.

We’ve done the same thing here with carbon fiber and wood harps. There are five sound samples below, each one from a different harp.

Listen carefully to each of the samples, and write down your perception of the sound.

Is it full, bright, rich, resonant, warm? Do you have a favorite among the five?

Can you tell which is wood and which carbon fiber?

After you’ve done this, scroll to the bottom of the page, where you’ll find a link to take you to a page that tells you which sample is from which harp.

We strongly suggest that you take this taste test first, before peeking!

When you’ve written down your comments about the sound samples, click here for the answers.