The ears fatigue quickly in this regard, atOne of the things I was told early in my exploration of all things audio is that rapid AB testing is likely to lead to fatigue where everything sounds the same. The poster who told me that advised listening for more extended periods before changing from A to B. I’ve been doing that for years and I think there’s some truth to it.
least my ears. My experience of rapid A/B switching is that any differences heard this way are most clear on the first few switches. Then it gets harder to hear them, and after five switches or so I can almost doubt what I heard the first times, although I still know what I heard.
More than once I have found that the first impressions are incomplete and make-or-break differences can still appear with extended listening.
For example, when rolling tubes with my Lyr3, I thought that the new tube sounded better, more spacious, better detail and sound stage. Only later after a few days I realised that the engagement - the toe-tappingness or PRaT - I felt with some music I love was much less. So out it went. The point is that this took a few days and casual listening to realise. This is why I’m a bit sceptical towards short term blind listening tests. Don’t get me wrong, they do have their use, and they do tell something, but they also don’t necessarily tell the whole story.
Absolutely. I can think to myself when listening that this is a great song and I usually enjoy it more, and why don’t I feel that now, nothing in the setup has changed? Then realising that there is one thing that has changed: Me, because I’m a bit stressed over something or just not in that mood.That said, I may just be giving more time for my brain to fool me into thinking there’s a difference. I notice that how much I enjoy my sound system is far more dependent on things like my mood, noise in the house and noise exposure that day then the sound system itself.
That said, the right music at the right time can also relieve stress I feel or make my mood better! Music is fantastic that way.