anomaly2, can you give a technical explanation of why some folk prefer wine A over wine B ? Why some are passionate over a certain model Porsche (or Ford or Toyota etc) over similarly capable models from the same manufacturer (in some cases, *faster* models) ? Why some of us prefer cooler climes while others cannot abide the very thought of 'Winter' ?
[size=11pt]This thread is about whether anyone can give a technical explanation for preference of the sound quality of one high-quality MP3 player over another high-quality MP3 player—not wines, cars, or climates.[/size]
The people on this board are individuals - computers may have been designed to simulate certain aspects of our cognitive function, but they arent replacements for our emotional capacity.
What does emotion have to do with a technical explanation for sound-quality differences?
If you were talking about PCs and laptops, I would be 100% in agreement, with the possible exception of criteria like ergonomics and brand loyalty, but we arent talking about mere silicon when the end result reaches our ears, and thats something we will have to agree to disagree on.
Evaluating sound quality can also be objective.
As far as being able to appreciate two contrasting players, one which I described as 'warm' and one as 'neutral', I'm afraid its that human thing again - by your canon, I cant like chocolate and vanilla ice-cream equally because that just doesnt compute.
But surely there must be a reason for you to describe one MP3 player as having a warm sound and another MP3 player as having a neutral sound. Or do you disagree? If MP3 player A has a warm sound and MP3 player B has a neutral sound, then there must be a technical explanation for why this is so. Or do you disagree?
Your quest for a technical explanation of something that will ultimately be assessed by human ears just doesnt gel with me.
But it is ultimately assessed by human ears. Did you even bother reading the information in that dfkt link and taking those tests?
Show me figures that prove climate change is going to see the end of humanity within a century and I wont argue with you, but try to quantify certain aspects of the listening experience and I'm afraid that you have entered one of the few areas where science just doesnt explain everything, at least not to me.
Science does not explain everything, but it does explain a lot—especially with wires, amplifiers, and CD players. Perhaps also with MP3 players. I cannot give you the links to the evidence, because I think the moderators and administrators will ban any discussions of double-blind listening tests here. If a moderator or administrator says OK to the discussion of double-blind listening tests in all forums except the Cables forum, then I shall provide the evidence.
If that makes me a Luddite, then so be it, but I'm the only one wearing the headphones when I sit down to listen to music and I'd rather be a happy Luddite than an unhappy technician.
Are you perhaps suggesting that if I give you the evidence, your enjoyment of music will be diminished?