JezA wrote: > Why should the louder one be perceived as better? > > If someone plays the violin badly, I would prefer them to play quieter. > (Ideally silently).
You are confusing separate issues. The performance standard of a musician is a completely different subject from the perceived quality of reproduction by a stereo. It has been well established that, when comparing two identical pieces of audio equipment, a slight volume difference will have the louder of the two perceived as "better" even though they are identical. Therefore, if one is interested in comparing two different pieces of equipment and finding which is truly better, the playback volumes should be equal. Does the consumer purchasing equipment for his home need to go to such lengths? Only if he is interested in controlling for that variable. Most people (which includes many audiophiles IMO) don't bother with such detail. They simply buy whatever sounds better to them without worrying too much about how closely matched the numerous variables are during the comparison. -- mlsstl ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mlsstl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9598 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60169 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
