ABSTRACT Ensemble perception refers to our ability to summarize complex information across individual items in a group. Ensemble perception of pitch in the auditory domain can be achieved remarkably well: listeners can accurately judge whether the pitch corresponding to the mean frequency of a set of six music scale tones is higher or lower than the pitch of a test tone presented after the set. Ensemble perception for music scale tones was performed by absolute pitch (AP) possessors (n = 16) and musically experienced non-AP listeners (n = 14). They performed a set averaging experiment (Experiment 1), and a tone recognition experiment, in which they judged whether an individual tone had been part of the set or not (Experiment 2). AP listeners obtained a significantly higher percentage correct and a smaller just noticeable difference than non-AP listeners when comparing the (average) pitch of the set and the test. Remarkably, though, AP listeners did not significantly outperform non-AP listeners in individual tone recognition. These results suggest that a cognitive tone-labeling strategy, as predominantly used by AP listeners, enhances ensemble perception for music scale tones. Musically experienced non-AP listeners, however, can achieve recognition of individual tones without tone labeling at a very high level as well. Possible strategies used by the listeners in both groups were discussed.