Just chiming in a bit on the conversation from yesterday. It's one I try to stay a little bit out of - especially on this board but I felt a bit compelled to write on the who is better - Freddie/Adam.
Please pardon the rambling - This might go in a million different directions...
I do realize I'm not on a Queen centric board but an Adam one but I still always have a hard time reading that someone isn't awed by Freddie's voice! (Sorry Nica) I can't see how that's possible.
I will say that I think it was juniemoon who mentioned something about Queen fans getting very defensive over Freddie for various reasons and I will completely agree - especially States-side Queen fans. All over the world Queen is a massively iconic band and in the UK they really are second only to the Beatles (and some might say they even rival the Beatles). In the States between 1977-1981ish the band WAS on top in America but their fall from the upper echelon has left a confused legacy. Some still think they are as iconic as the rest of the world while many lump them in with other 70s arena rockers such as Kiss, Boston, Kansas, Journey, Styx, Aerosmith, etc. I think fans defend Freddie even more than they need to because he is the one thing that people who argue for Queen's iconicness point to as Freddie is lauded in every sense of the word as one of if not THE best frontman of all time. So to argue for Queen's relevance in musical, cultural history would lynchpin on not only Freddie being pretty good...but being the best.
It helps that it's true
I'm not one to say that Freddie is the only thing worth listening to. FAR be it. Hell I love listening to Brian and Roger sing now and they aren't near what they were and are from the greatest. I love listening to other singers as well. I also think there are some supremely talented singers that I like to listen to that aren't Freddie: Adam being one, also James Labrie from Dream Theater, Gary Cherone from Extreme, and more theatrically Michael Crawford.
But I don't know how you can truly compare voices as it is such a subjective thing and I understand that in my head. But I will flat out say (and I might get chased out myself now
but I think Freddie wipes the floor with Adam overall. Does that mean I think Adam doesn't have a good voice? Definitely not. I have highly enjoyed QAL and I have even argued on here that I love Adam's voice (though not a lot of his material). But it's SO completely subjective.
I mean you can throw timbre this verse control this versus clarity this and as a man who has taken some vocal lessons, I understand everything you are saying...but it just doesn't matter and the feel argument completely comes into play. I think Adam has a technically brilliant voice and can hit notes and sustain them like it's just not fair but I have never felt a vocal move me like Freddie's did on almost every song. The closest I've come with Adam is when he sang Who Wants To Live Forever and there were moments in The Show Must Go On during Hammersmith. He got WWTLF though and nailed it.
But Freddies' phrasing to me and his overall power. Freddie was never drowned out by the band.
From an insider who I can't name - The band used the same set up forever soundwise. It was altered a bit for Paul, but it was altered more for Adam who though he was hitting shocking notes, was still getting drowned out by the band.
BUT I will say he definitely has potential and is still developing. I agreed with B&R that his singing in the iheart HAD gotten better...more powerful, more confident.
The potential is definitely there but he will never realize that potential without the material.
Part of my argument about the band is that a real true solid band will help get him there. Look at Freddie's solo album Mr. Bad Guy. Take a long look at the two songs that Queen re-did for Made In Heaven. The Queen versions are FAR superior and make them far more likely to be listened to. Freddie's solo "band" for that project was overall pretty pitiful.
As of now unfortunately Adam has very little legacy. Though this is not exactly his fault, he is more famous for being famous. He has a top notch voice and is known for that but if you look to general population, is there any Adam song that is in pop culture? WWFM is the only real one that made a dent but let's take a look ten years down the road. Will that still be in played? Maybe once in a while on a throwback weekend. Then compare it to BoRhap which still wins Best ever song polls. Or We Will Rock You which was just played over 500,000 during the 2012 Olympics...35 years after it was written or even the shows of the moment - Glee for example has covered 8 Queen tracks (Somebody To Love, Another One Bites The Dust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Fat Bottomed Girls, We Are The Champions, Don't Stop Me Now, We Will Rock You , and You're My Best Friend) That's what he needs.
But again unfortunately I lament that I don't know if Adam can build that kind of legacy quite simply because of the state of the music business right now, which is one reason I do hate seeing the slams about him by Queen fans...the music business is no longer about music.
Unlike most Queen fans, I will never slam someone for thinking Adam (or anyone) is better than Freddie. I admit I will not be able to understand it
But to each their own. I simply can't see how someone couldn't be impressed by Freddie. And likewise I also can't see how people can't be impressed by Adam's voice either.
Fronting Queen? That's a different story and even though I approve and will love to (hopefully) see it, I completely understand those who don't.
Another completely un-researched statistical analysis breakdown of anti-Adam Queen fans
5% - There is no one but Freddie - Freddie is the ultimate, God is a distant second.
25% - No one can sing Queen's songs. Why bother to try to have someone when they can only at best be passable?
25% - Adam isn't a member of Queen. He didn't live it, he wasn't there during the creation and the journey to world domination. Queen was a four part family so anyone who sings with them on anything more than a one off is an intruder and doesn't belong.
20% - Adam was on a reality singing competition which is EVERYTHING that is wrong with the music business today. So no matter how good he may be, he represents (fairly or not) EVIL.
20% - Adam is a good vocalist, but he is wrong for Queen. While Freddie straddled the line of glitz & glamour/rock and roll danger perfectly, Adam is simply too much glitz&glamour and not enough substance rock and roll. Adam fits more in line with the musical.
5% - In general Queen is done. They haven't done hardly anything since John retired that has been really worthy of the name and now is just a nostalgia act. It's not new and inventive, it's a bit tired. Any working with any + now really just hampers bringing out material that was from the best era of the band (70s live stuff or studio archive stuff).
Ok that's enough rambling. I hope I didn't offend anyone too much! Sometimes I think it's good to hear from someone outside the main fanbase to get a more unbiased viewpoint of your obsession...in fact that's one of the reasons I came here was to see the Adam camp's views on Queen and our thought processes even if they don't mesh completely
) Lea Salonga and others who were all both technically skilled and delivered emotional performances even through the new technology of CDs! 
) that here was a singer that combined my LOVE for musical theatre voices with pop/rock music that I loved so much also. His versatility!!! CTMBTM to ROF to BTBW to PTFM to IICHY to Mad World and Feeling Good to WLL and every other Idol performance....then Starlight. & Bowie Medley.... and the FYE album!!! 
