I see the issue with ABX blind testing


I’ve followed many of the cable discussions over the years with interest. I’ve never tested cables & compared the sound other than when I bought an LFD amp & the vendor said that it was best paired with the LFD power cord. That was $450 US and he offered to ship it to me to try & if I didn’t notice a difference I could send it back. I got it, tried it & sent it back. To me there was no difference at all.

Fast forward to today & I have a new system & the issue of cables arises again. I have Mogami cables made by Take Five Audio in Canada. The speaker wire are Mogami 3104, XLRs are Mogami 2549 & the power cords are Powerline 10 with Furutech connectors. All cables are quite well made and I’ve been using them for about 5 years. The vendor that sold me the new equipment insisted that I needed "better" cables and sent along some Transparent Super speaker & XLR cables to try. If I like them I can pay for them.

In every discussion about cables the question is always asked, why don’t you do an ABX blind test? So I was figuring out how I’d do that. I know the reason few do it. It’s not easy to accomplish. I have no problem having a friend come over & swap cables without telling me what he’s done, whether he swapped any at all etc. But from what I can see the benefit, if there is one, will be most noticeable system wide. In other words, just switching one power cable the way I did before won’t be sufficient for you to tell a difference... again, assuming there is one. So I need my friend to swap power cables for my amp/preamp & streamer, XLR cables from my streamer to my preamp, preamp to amp & speakers cables. That takes a good 5-10 minutes. There is no way my brain is retaining what I previously heard and then comparing it to what I currently hear.

The alternative is to connect all of the new cables, listen for a week or so & then switch back & see if you feel you’re missing anything. But then your brain takes over & your biases will have as much impact as any potential change in sound quality.

So I’m stumped as to how to proceed.

A photo of my new setup. McIntosh MC462, C2700, Pure Fidelity Harmony TT, Lumin T3 & Sonus Faber Amati G5 & Gravis V speakers.

dwcda

I think @botrytis is mixing up spirit competition where a panel of judges is used to taste and score a product with what takes place in a distillery, where only one person, a master distiller , is responsible for taste and consistency of the final product. If there was a panel blind tasting whiskey at a distillery it would resemble this thread.

When it comes to my system, I’m that master distiller.
 

Why are we still entertaining this endless flow of skeptics?

It‘s simple.  We have trolls with no real interest in audio that make comments to the contrary apparently out of boredom.  To call someone arrogant or foolish for building a stereo system based on their hearing is nuts.  Blind testing has a purpose and a place.  If a person is unsure of their own hearing to build a stereo, that‘s ok.  It doesn‘t have to be a DYI hobby.  Many people just want a turnkey stereo system so they can enjoy their music.  A dealer can set up a system that sounds good to them or they can hire someone to set up their system.  Many of us enjoy the journey almost as much as the destination.  

I go listen to someone‘s stereo and maybe I like it or maybe I don‘t.  It‘s all about my bias vs. the owner‘s.  Maybe I like a song someone else doesn‘t.  Most of the time we benefit hearing other systems and gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of our own.  I personally do not need to be blindfolded to do that.

Imagine if car magazines tried to do double blind drive tests of cars.  Now that could get interesting.

@audphile1 I was the lab manager and fermentation expert at a distillery. We had to be trained for tasting. The American Distillers Institute has classes on it. They use base flavors and fragrances to train with. This way, one can use the same descriptors etc, for the products.

Ever see a wine wheel or whiskey wheel, probably not. Or you wouldnt be so dismissive and arrogant. Whiskey taste wheel Wine aroma wheel

Y'all really don't get it.

There are rigorous classes for Somms as well and most just can't cut it. With wine I've learned a few things but could never reach the heights of perception as my Somm friends no matter how much I try. 

One could memorize all the different cues on those wheels and still not be able to match them to what one's tasting on a consistent basis.  There's way too many factors at play. I've even seen Somms blow it on blind tastings while I got it right (only on two occasions).  Everyone does. What I taste is rarely what others do and vice versa. Sure, there's overlap in some broad areas but the nuances are always different. 

Here's a study on single malts and blends that the author disputes but the comments section leaves open the possibility that most simply cannot tell the difference between the two unless they know beforehand what they're drinking, like the study concluded. Not everyone can do it.

All the best,
Nonoise

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