Shadorne says:
I am reading two themes in your comments in this thread. First is that it doesn't make sense that these high-priced units should sound as different from one another as the test results suggest. You'll have a hard time getting much agreement on that point from most of us for whom the hobby survives on the basis of our perceptions of these differences. Second, and very much related but also a bit different, is suggested by the quote I lifted above. So often in reviews we read that some important aspect of sound reproduction was transformed by a specific component, as if, as you say, it was "dimensionless before." Here's my theory: we hear minor differences from component changes in our systems (or in systems we are familiar with) and, for whatever reason or reasons, the magnitude of these differences gets blown up in a big way. A bit more dimensionality in some respect strikes as us as a night and day difference. I don't know the underlying mechanism at work, but I suspect there is some psychology of change in which small changes to a known staus quo are perceived disproportionally. As I've argued before, if [Nordost Valhalla or EMM Labs or take your pick] is really as great as people say, why is it that, when you go to an audio show, the rooms using [Valhalla or whatever] don't sound better tha the average rooms with some reasonable consistency? I don't have an answer, but it's possible -- just possible -- that in the scheme of the overall system, the speaker cable amounts pretty much to bupkis. I dunno. Even so, whoever is running that room is likely to feel that their sound was transformed when they put the Valhalla in (or even when, at 3:00am this morning, they changed the cable elevators they were using). And I'm sure it did sound like a transformation to them.
I remain somewhat skeptical that the other products are "dimensionless" in comparison.First, let me say how much I enjoy your posts here, Shadorne. I would characterize you as a knowledgeable, "gentleman disbeliever" of audiophile dogma. I hope you will stay with us, though the track records of disbelievers around here has not been terribly good.
I am reading two themes in your comments in this thread. First is that it doesn't make sense that these high-priced units should sound as different from one another as the test results suggest. You'll have a hard time getting much agreement on that point from most of us for whom the hobby survives on the basis of our perceptions of these differences. Second, and very much related but also a bit different, is suggested by the quote I lifted above. So often in reviews we read that some important aspect of sound reproduction was transformed by a specific component, as if, as you say, it was "dimensionless before." Here's my theory: we hear minor differences from component changes in our systems (or in systems we are familiar with) and, for whatever reason or reasons, the magnitude of these differences gets blown up in a big way. A bit more dimensionality in some respect strikes as us as a night and day difference. I don't know the underlying mechanism at work, but I suspect there is some psychology of change in which small changes to a known staus quo are perceived disproportionally. As I've argued before, if [Nordost Valhalla or EMM Labs or take your pick] is really as great as people say, why is it that, when you go to an audio show, the rooms using [Valhalla or whatever] don't sound better tha the average rooms with some reasonable consistency? I don't have an answer, but it's possible -- just possible -- that in the scheme of the overall system, the speaker cable amounts pretty much to bupkis. I dunno. Even so, whoever is running that room is likely to feel that their sound was transformed when they put the Valhalla in (or even when, at 3:00am this morning, they changed the cable elevators they were using). And I'm sure it did sound like a transformation to them.