mike1127
Member of the Trade: Brilliant Zen Audio
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- Oct 16, 2005
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Quote:
I think there are some puzzling inconsistencies here.
I agree with many engineers on this forum that people can be misled by expectation. But why would it only make the illusion of differences? Couldn't it give the illusion of sameness? For example, if you are attached to the belief that CD players sound alike, wouldn't your sighted evaluation be unreliable?---because a difference is something you don't want to find.
Also, this idea that a test should be run by the following steps:
It seems to me that you have to acknowledge that you could be "honing in on" an illusory difference even when there is a real difference. Then your blind test would be useless, because you aren't listening for the right thing.
EDIT: same problem comes up when you say you don't do blind tests of speakers. Expectation is still at work.
Doing blind tests of your equipment isn't very expensive (actually cheap compared to the typical costs of the components involved), or very difficult. All you need are some cables, switch boxes, an accurate voltmeter, and a friend. I don't even do blind tests, because I can't tell a difference between well-made components (regardless of price point) in a sighted test. Doing blind tests of speakers isn't as critical, because the differences between speakers (and headphones) are usually quite large. A/B comparisons are still important (and kind of a pain), but they don't need to be blind.
I think there are some puzzling inconsistencies here.
I agree with many engineers on this forum that people can be misled by expectation. But why would it only make the illusion of differences? Couldn't it give the illusion of sameness? For example, if you are attached to the belief that CD players sound alike, wouldn't your sighted evaluation be unreliable?---because a difference is something you don't want to find.
Also, this idea that a test should be run by the following steps:
- listen sighted to hone in on the specific difference
- do a blind test
It seems to me that you have to acknowledge that you could be "honing in on" an illusory difference even when there is a real difference. Then your blind test would be useless, because you aren't listening for the right thing.
EDIT: same problem comes up when you say you don't do blind tests of speakers. Expectation is still at work.