Gandhi wrote: > Ah, we have now reached the real focal point. How well does cosy testing > in our own homes work? Is there possibly an alternative? > > Most people want the most bang for the bucks. The very wealthy may not > care about the bucks, but everybody cares about getting the most bang. > *So how do we decide what best enhances the sound quality* or other part > of the listening experience? How do we decide what to spend our money on > and what gives the biggest effect at this point? How do we go from > wanting to getting? > > There are many possible pitfalls of psychological nature in play in > testing. These are well established in the scientific community. One of > them is that we hear with both our ears and our brain. And we can't turn > off either one, both are always on. When the brain is highly involved, > anything might happen. For instance, that makes us susceptiple to > hearing what we want to hear. > > I can't list all the problems, but here is a great video that > exemplifies some of them, Ethan Winer's Audio Myths Workshop (oldie but > goldie). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ > This is a very informative video with actual scientists and it's also > humorous. I recommend checking out at least the first ten minutes, Poppy > Crum is hilarious (05:15-09:30). But the rest of the hour is also great. > > > After seeing that video and contemplating a bit, one may not see sighted > testing as the best tool available to humans. Reviewers are also humans, > so they suffer from the same problems as the rest of us, which makes > also reviews a blunt instrument. *A safer way of acquiring good > information would be to look for published measurements and formal > tests, something substancial, anything that contains hard facts.* Then > we have at least a little part of an objective truth. *That gives us a > much better basis for our decisions.* After all, our goal is to get the > most bang, and our best bet is to find already known hard facts. Without > something stable to lean on, we might stumble. I have highlighted two points in your post "*So how do we decide what best enhances the sound quality" *&* "**A safer way of acquiring good information would be to look for published measurements and formal tests, something substancial, anything that contains hard facts."
*Tell me what published measurements will tell me how a device will sound in my playback system - how it will enhance my sound quality? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jkeny's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=35192 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103842 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
