InTheBath;636700 Wrote: > Sorry but as a engineer I can't see the point in the AB tests.
AB tests are meant to appease people who do not trust their own judgment. These are the people who value methodology above everything else. No, scratch that, what I meant to say is these are the people who value PRESCRIBED methodology above everything else. Blind AB tests have originally been designed in order to detect whether a claim that a certain phenomenon can introduce significant change into the system is justifiable or not. Typical example: pharmaceutical placebo pill vs. the real pill. Some pharmaceutical firm may claim that they have developed a pill that reliably lowers cholesterol level in the blood stream. They must prove their claim by conducting a strictly controlled blind test that is statistically significant -- a sufficiently large number of test subjects are given a pill treatment (they don't know if it's a real pill or just a harmless fake one), and after that treatment their blood cholesterol levels get measured. If the results are statistically significant for the real pill, the firm gets approval for marketing it. If not, the firm either goes back to the drawing board, or aborts mission and starts looking for other ways to turn profit. In the world of audio, an audio component manufacturer claims that their newest product helps create a better sound. Naturally, one would expect that they'd be asked to produce a proof to their claim in the form of a blind AB test. But it's an unrealistic expectation because, unlike the blood cholesterol level, the experience of improved sound quality cannot be reliably measured. So yes, you're right, AB audio tests are a croak. -- magiccarpetride ------------------------------------------------------------------------ magiccarpetride's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=37863 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=88345 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
