Yes, expectations shape everything, but so do physics. It’s hard to differentiate the two, and almost completely irrelevant to do so if you’re only working on a single system built for your own two ears. Try things and choose what sounds better is a pretty simple decision rule and doesn’t require anything but experimentation and listening.
Thanks for your interesting posts and experience....
i am happy to read other post than attack against people experience or gear....
Personally i never tried to prove anything, except for myself to give a better audio experience....Only listenings experiments could do it for me...
it is not necessary to wait for upgrade money nor to a scientific explanation that are not always easy to find in specific case anyway to begin experimenting and listening....
I think it would be pretty absurd to invoke expectation bias for being the ONLY explanation about my improved audio system for example by my homemade devices controls creation...In some case with some device yes....we deceive ourself sometimes, i experience that also...But in many case not at all... Because the audible effect is too large and too precise to be negated or doubted....
Expectation bias are well suit to explain for a single experiment and a single action, not so well to explain a continuous incremental improvement each week with some experiments for 2 years and this despite continous judgement errors also... Any possible experiment need some feed back verification and corrections to eliminate biases or bad choices...
It will be like accusing someone to hallucinate over 2 years, controlling his own mind like a yogi in a positive thinking act that would work nevermind what he will add to his audio system...
I am not that powerful in my expectation will power conscious or not....I need different materials and some varied devices to change the working of my system for the better...Biases will not do for 2 years... Alas!
And all experiments are not all positives, experiments in listening is a guided feedback in installation devices... It is the way and context which make me able to imagine and create improvement by changing conditions and materials and eliminate my biases or correcting them...
Only limited narrow mind that never experience by themselves invoke "placebo" or "expectation bias" to explain anything they dont like and in whatever context....There is even some that pretend to be able to judge with only a look...Clever people? or deluded one ? make your choice, mine is made....
Expectation bias explanation has not a so broad back and so great power so to speak to explain everything and more...
Sometimes if you put shungite rock on top of an already warm sounding amplifier you must attribute the sudden increased sound compression to the minerals you just put there and not to your power of imagination....It is easy to repeat this experience and test it with adding a piece of quartz that will have the opposite effect.....I call that a little experiment, no bias here... Except in the mind of those who prefer to keep their blinders and going on calling "placebo" "hallucination" or expectation bias anything they dont like or believe in....Myself i dont believe i only try....The only science that matters is the science of today working for tomorrow...Not scientist dogmas....
Science is complex interpenetration of varied fields studying complex phenomena...
The "timbre" phenomenon for example for the description of his modelling factors need how many specific disciplinary concepts to be understood? Judging then the timbre factor a subjective colored bias is ridiculous.... Someone supposed to be a scientist here precisely did that....
Then when you dont like a donkey and you want to sell it your bias is that the donkey dont walk with enough energy the donkey indeed had his own bias and you dont like it..... 😁
Bias are always there anyway, we are not in the obligation to stay with only them we can try something else....
My best to you....
