Home Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

So there's no proof the equipment is "qualified" for the test? ... ( Your "logic" embarasses this subjective audiophile)

Your logic is faulty.

The equipment is not being tested.

What is being tested is what a listener claims to hear while listening to the equipment.

The stereo equipment is "qualified" by an audiophile claiming he hears a difference between two components during a sighted audition when using that equipment.

His claim could be a real audible sound quality difference, a small SPL difference believed to be meaningful sound quality difference or an imagined difference.

With no test, the "cause" of the reported audible difference can only be assumed.

A-B volume matching does not require a blind methodology, or even a test -- it's just common sense for any A-B comparison -- common sense that's almost always ignored in sighted comparisons of electronics and wires.

A-B volumes may be adjusted for gross SPL differences between two pairs of speakers, but rarely are with any attempt at accuracy.

A comparison between a listener's hearing ability in a sighted warm-up audition, assuming he hears an A-B difference, versus his hearing ability in a blind audition minutes later, is VERY important information for that person. Why would someone invest three or four hours of his time if he didn't care?

That not every listener claims to hear differences in A-B volume-matched sighted warm-up auditions done before blind tests ... suggests that A-B volume matching reduces reported audible differences versus listening to two components playing at different volumes, which is the methodology used for almost all sighted A-B comparisons. Of course just plain common sense suggests the same thing!

Nobody wins when two components are compared playing at different volumes and the listener reports hearing differences.

Yet that is exactly the methodology used for almost all subjective A-B comparisons.

The most "qualified" stereo in the world would not offset the experiment design flaw of comparing components playing at different volumes and reporting they sound different. The same component would sound different at different volumes!
.
.
.


Richard BassNut Greene
Subjective Audiophile 2007

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  McShane Design  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]