jh901 wrote: > Blind faith? ABX? > > Look, I don't expect everyone to run out and drop a few grand on fancy > speaker cables just because I suggest that there's an appreciable > difference. At the same time, I mean, blind faith!? I have to ABX or > else it's blind faith?! >
Not at all, but lets examine the quality of the source of information that you seem to rely on. Like just about all audiophiles you probably judge audio gear based on casual sighted audiophile evaluations, and reviews based on casual sighted evaluations. Here are a few things that are fatally wrong with casual sighted audiophile evaluations: How does one know that any particular perception is distorted or reliable? I think that what I was taught and did for all of my life to now was; (1) Exclude extraneous influences that could undesirably affect the conclusion. (2) Understand and Control all other major influences that could affect the conclusion. Here are what I've found to be the major extraneous influences in audiophile listening evaluations: In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations the evaluation totally fails to be a test because there is no reference other than a highly flawed distant memory or fantasy about what the UUT's would sound like if their performance were ideal. In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations there is no formal process for listener selection or training. The listeners supervise the test and they select themselves. The equipment and its setup receives no formal testing. In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations there are no formal controls over listener bias. Since the test is sighted the listeners can always correctly identify what they are listening to by means that have nothing to do with listening. Therefore, not only is the evaluation not a test, it is generally not about listening. The evaluation is probably best modeled by a public opinion survey based on advertising, brand reputation, etc. In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations there is no formal process for Level Setting or Matching. Listeners pick whatever listening levels they feel like at the moment in spite of reliable scientific evidence that listening level is a strong determiner of sound quality. When two or more pieces of equipment are compared, it is overwhelmingly likely that they are being listened to at different SPL and that listener reactions could be more heavily determined by the differences in SPL than any presumed technical differences among the equipment itself.\ In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations there is no formal process for controlling the music being used to audition the equipment. Recording quality is a very strong inflence on listneing pleasure but its effects are ignored. The evaluation is probably well modeled by a public opinion survey based on choice of recording being auditioned. Furthermore, there is no formal process for ensuring that the pieces of equipment allegedly being compared are listened to with the same musical selections even when the same recordings are used. The diagnostic ability of recordings to make a given flaw most audible changes on a second by second basis, but casual sighted audiophile evaluations completely ignore this well known fact. In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations there is no formal process for controlling the associated gear or the listening room. Audiophiles routinely compare different pieces of equipment auditioned in different rooms with different associated equipment. If the differences in sound quality are due to equipment, we don't know which piece of equipment is actually the controlling factor. In just about all casual audiophile sighted evaluations changing from auditioning one alternative to the other is usually very time consuming. It is typically accomplished by means of cable swapping which can take several minutes. Sometimes the alternaives are in different homes or even in different cities, states, or continents. It is well known that the most subtle and detailed memories of sounds disappear within a few seconds, so we are assured that the listeners are unable to fully exercise their perceptual facilities. Thus the possibility that their reactions are based on actual small differences as they often claim, is actually zero. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ arnyk's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=64365 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=96407 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
