I've mentioned this book in the past, but a very readable tome on the subject of human perception is Dr. Cordelia Fine's "A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts & Deceives".
"Expectation bias" is far too limited a term as it implies we can only be fooled by what we already expect. Things are far more complex, and much of the activity takes place at a subconscious level. A fundamental basic of any scientific research is weeding out as many variables as possible. And in audio, the human is the biggest wildcard of all. One of the common deceptions in audio is for people to take their personal subjective experience and universalize it. They treat their own perception as the highest grade, most accurate test instrument in existence. We've just seen a "very good software and systems engineer" demonstrate that. He heard it, it must be true. why would anyone need to test further? If you can't hear it, you must be a neanderthal or your system inferior. The other problem with audio is that many home listeners appear to have this strong need to have their personal perceptions accepted as science-based fact, and will put forth all manner of exotic explanations to "prove" it. You've probably gone too far if you start invoking quantum theory to explain what you're hearing in your den. ;-) However, if I'm a home listener and fat braided wires, special stones, magic crystals and whatever else aid my enjoyment when I play back recorded music, then hallelujah! Enjoy the music but keep in mind that nothing about that experience is anything more than my personal perception. -- mlsstl ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mlsstl's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9598 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93549 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
