Which reverb do you prefer?
 

Of these two, which do you prefer?

Waves IR1 full stereo "Voices from the Past":


Studio Reverb "Great Hall":

It's really hard to fairly judge two tracks when they're not level matched.

I could tweak them, but inspite of that which simply sounds better regardless?

Level the volumes and then we can compare.

Saying the levels should be matched when making a comparison like this isn't simply a matter of convenience. There's a phenomenon in music that when listening to alternate versions of identically played pieces, people will tend to prefer the louder version. When you present two pieces where one is louder than the other, and you ask which is better, to some large degree, the level issue is going to dictate the results and you won't receive useful feedback.

Ok, but what levels are you talking about? On my computer they both sound the same volume. Do you mean reverb levels from the bus?

I recorded the first 15 seconds of each track into my DAW and compared the loudness :-)
The 2nd track is 5 LUFS louder.

I matched the loudness.

1st track has a lot more reverb on it and is a bit darker than the 2nd one which has more high end.
I prefer the 2nd one.

This is about as primitive as I can get(well for this purpose :))...strictly for a visual. I opened up Audacity on the laptop, cranked the internal mic and
clicked on the first example for a few secs of your tune, then the same on your second example...you can obviously see the difference. BTW, nice playing!

https://i.imgur.com/SAnyIjw.jpg

Barry After trying to match level match the two samples In general I like both they are different but both are to my mind reasonable use for solo acoustic, so one is not "better" per se. For me for that specific song, I slightly prefer the 1st. Because I agree with Dirk_Z it is a bit darker

Perhaps we and you might focus on the more basic questions or issues .

The level difference (for A/B comparison) is a major and arguably "the" basic issue. As noted by folks here this would in fact be the first priority to get put to rest.
Otherwise any attempts for you or us to to compare and analyze objectively will be very problematic . It is somewhat loosely akin to attempting to solve a leaky plumbing issue by addressing drainage solutions as opposed to finding the source of the leak.

Now I am listening back on my laptop with earbuds and there is no question, the second track is noticeably louder (I am referring to the overall level).
SO ??? if as you say on your computer they sound the same volume wise .

Then I would suggest there is something very very strange going on in your system somewhere. In fact I have no clue as to why that might be so, because (all things being equal) it kind of defies common sense logic.

I don't see how that's possible unless your computer is doing something to level match audio before it hits the speakers. If that's the case, it's yet another reason to have your monitors connected to your interface rather than your computer.

I'll have to check on this. I have the RealTek HD software for my speakers, thanks.

*** edit ***

Okay I found the culprit. There were settings called "Loudness Equalization" and "Enable Bass Management." I turned them both off. Now I hear the difference. Thanks again. I'll see if I can get the volume the same on both today. It's probably the amount of reverb I allow through the bus because its the same track in both samples, just different reverbs in the mix.

My biggest problem with recording is that there are to many choices. There's an endless supply of reverbs. An endless supply of anything in recording now days. Every day I would change things and then change them again. I quit for now. Back at it next winter though.

There ya go Jim got it ,,,, yes those setting should be off.

What do you mean by "amount of reverb through the bus" do you have your reverb set up in parallel ?
Can you post screen shots of your DAW and exactly how you have your your tracks set up ?

I followed Doug's tutorial. I'm "sending" the wav through the reverb bus and then to the mixdown (I think that's the right explanation :) ) I'm using the same software.

Skipping over the level matching discussion that has already been well discussed, I listened to both and preferred the first. To me the second one seemed a bit "muddy"/low-middy (gee these words for sound are so inexact).

I wouldn't take my opinion to the bank, I'm not a big user of room reverbs on acoustic guitar, and today I'm not liking my own mixes much either.