Curt962;621899 Wrote: > I've injected tens of thousands of my own dollars into this human > experiment over the years. I have a dog in this fight. > > Not to discredit in any way some of the truly great audio components > encountered along the way, the truth remains that many simply do not > live up to the hype and promise. Same holds true (IMO) for many of > the audiophile truisms that I, and many others cling, or have clung so > tightly to in the past. > > No REAL audiophile would dare confess to not hearing a HUGE > difference. > > Expectations = bias. "So and So makes this (whatever)...so it is > definitely better/or decidedly mid-fi" > > When expectations aren't met...Rationalizations begin. "It needs a > burn in/It's OK for the money" > > (Why will we give a $5,000 pre-amp a 400hr burn in....but dismiss a > good little receiver on the spot?) > > Lengthy break ins = Acclimatization. "There we go....this is WAY > better" > > It'd be fun to put a Krell in a Sansui chassis....a piece of cheap zip > cord inside a 6" O.D. Techflex...swapping a "burned in" component with > one fresh off the shelf... > > How would this affect our perceptions? Would we still hear these > things the same way? > > Would we have really sought out and purchased the SAME audio components > without the support of an audio press? Glowing reviews? What if all > the reviews said that your favorite speaker sounded like crap...would > you have still bought them? > > Our critical ears can hear through all that.....right? > > I doubt it. > > We listen with our eyes, our expectations, and our beliefs. Little > Audiophile Sheep...doing as the Audiophile Shepherds command.
Spot on. If you haven't already seen it, check out the video "Audio Myths Workshop" which explains the expectation bias that's built into our brains, and which we cannot turn off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ -- Ron Olsen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ron Olsen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9233 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86359 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
