  We present results for the pion multiplet spectrum calculated using both
unimproved staggered fermions and improved HYP-smeared staggered fermions. In
the case of unimproved staggered fermions, we observe (consistent with previous
work) that ${\cal O}(a^2)$ taste symmetry breaking effects are large and
comparable to the $\approx {\cal O}(p^2)$ contributions to their masses. Higher
order ${\cal O}(a^2 p^2)$ effects are also substantial enough to be seen. For
HYP-smeared staggered fermions, we find that taste breaking is much reduced.
The ${\cal O}(a^2)$ effects are observable, but are noticeably smaller than
those obtained with AsqTad-improved staggered fermions, and much smaller than
those obtained using unimproved staggered fermions, while ${\cal O}(a^2 p^2)$
effects are suppressed to such a level that we cannot observe them given our
statistical errors. From this numerical study, we conclude that HYP staggered
fermions are significantly better that AsqTad fermions from the perspective of
taste symmetry breaking.
