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Re: "Objective" audio tests are not objective: An inside view on where objective audiophiles go wrong with their blind t

Hi Richard

You say “Sorry but here I disagree. No one knows why the pacebo effect works.”

Perhaps not, that isn’t my field but here are some good old folks talking about its very real effect on experiments etc.

http://www.scientific.org/open-forum/articles/blind.html

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX033590.html

And on wine testing too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_taste_test

While some may debate how strong the effect is, it is real and had been accepted some time back.
Also, these effects are known in the recording industry where people are paid in part for they’re hearing,
Here are some folks that record / mix the music talking about it, being subject to it.

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/arsclist/2006/03/msg00187.html
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/31081/0/?srch=eqing+with+bypass+on#msg_31081
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/94628/0/?srch=bypass+on+by+accident#msg_94628
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/108232/0/?srch=bypass+eq+test#msg_108232
http://www.moultonlabs.com/more/wacky_world_of_blind_testing/

“Then you have to measure the effect of small SPL differences with no equipment changes. People may report audible differences when the only change was making the stereo 1dB louder. That has serious implications for all A-B comparisons because volumes are rarely if ever matched in sighted A-B comparisons.”

It might be a pain but level matching is part of the deal, a MUST.

“The instant switching does not replicate ordinary listening when there would be a one minute or longer delay to hook up a different component. Instant switching could allow a listener to hear a subtle difference that would not be audible if there was a multi-minute delay for component wire swaps. Why take that risk?”

One can switch at any time at any speed but from what is known about human hearing, one see’s that some aspects of ones hearing “memory” decays with time.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/memory.html
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=108267
“Fraud is when a product does not do what is claimed.”
I agree with that, my objection is that the clock and pebbles (and many other things) are not marketed honestly and sold as a time keeper or decorations and they are sold at a silly price which has harmed the overall credibility of the industry. From my personal experience, I would also point out one can get slapped hard if you walk up with your probes hanging out at a party, but you had real plausibility haha.
Best,
Tom Danley
“surroundsoundphiles just shake their heads and wonder why anyone would want to listen to two-channel stereo.”

Until you make Diana Krull float in front of them snapping her fingers and then and they hear things they never heard, in recordings they brought.


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  • Re: "Objective" audio tests are not objective: An inside view on where objective audiophiles go wrong with their blind t - tomservo 17:37:40 01/10/07 (0)
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