Blind fold hearing test

Perhaps we audiophiles are not seeing the wood for the trees.

Perhaps most of the so-called huge, night and day differences in performance we often read about are in fact barely perceptible?

I recall being struck by the sheer honesty when I heard that McIntosh themselves claimed no sonic advantages of any of their lovely amplifiers.

Anyway, as I’ve just ordered a copy of West Side Story CD (1957 original Broadway cast) it will be interesting to discover just how much better this Sony Mastersound SBM version is than the stock issue. I do think it’s telling that one of popular music’s most dynamic recordings was done over 60 years ago!

As is the fact that another highly regarded audiophile album, (the Cowboy Junkies much feted Trinity Session) was recorded on a Sony Betamax SL-2000 video cassette deck, albeit with a super duper microphone.

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Perhaps we audiophiles are not seeing the wood for the trees.

Perhaps most of the so-called huge, night and day differences in performance we often read about are in fact barely perceptible?

>>>>Not everyone reports night and day differences. Some people report modest differences. Some people report no differences. And, can you believe it, some people report worse results?

I recall being struck by the sheer honesty when I heard that McIntosh themselves claimed no sonic advantages of any of their lovely amplifiers.

>>>>I doubt that’s true. If it doesn’t make sense it’s probably not true.

Anyway, as I’ve just ordered a copy of West Side Story CD (1957 original Broadway cast) it will be interesting to discover just how much better this Sony Mastersound SBM version is than the stock issue. I do think it’s telling that one of popular music’s most dynamic recordings was done over 60 years ago!

>>>>Depends on the system and the listener to some degree. Could the SBM version be worse than the original? Happens all the time. There’s no guarantee.

As is the fact that another highly regarded audiophile album, (the Cowboy Junkies much feted Trinity Session) was recorded on a Sony Betamax SL-2000 video cassette deck, albeit with a super duper microphone.

>>>That recording was done in a church, which largely explains the sound quality.

I've been in blind amp tests and I can emphatically say "No", I can't tell the difference in amps. I seriously doubt if anyone could tell speaker brands unless they've been repeatedly exposed to those speakers, have material they're familiar with, know which brands are in the test and there's a "tell" about them. For instance, put my Paradigms and Maggies side-by-side and yeah, it's easy. Especially on metal or acoustic.

There are several perfectly valid reasons why some people don’t hear differences between amps or between anything. A Blind test result that has negative results actually does not mean much. Now, if there is a pattern of many independent negative results that would perhaps be more convincing. It depends on the data, how many negative results and how many positive results. 

@jssmith, "I've been in blind amp tests and I can emphatically say "No", I can't tell the difference in amps. I seriously doubt if anyone could tell speaker brands unless they've been repeatedly exposed to those speakers, have material they're familiar with, know which brands are in the test and there's a "tell" about them. For instance, put my Paradigms and Maggies side-by-side and yeah, it's easy. Especially on metal or acoustic."

Thanks for that. It concurs with the opinion of many users and virtually all of the data.

When it comes to amps, the main factor, above any infinitesimal sound quality differences, is their ability to drive the matched speakers. 

With easy to drive loudspeakers there is no obvious difference. Even sighted tests wouldn't change that fact, only the illusion.