Why Do So Many Audiophiles Reject Blind Testing Of Audio Components?

Sometimes I hear a difference when swapping components, and sometimes I do not. Sometimes the difference is obvious, sometimes it is subtle. The most difficult part is deciding if the difference is better, worse or just different, and if deemed better then deciding what I'm willing to pay for it.

The one difference that blew my mind was going from a middle-tier power cord, to a upper-tier cord. It was the biggest and best difference I have heard in a long time. Who’da thunk it?

@millercarbon,

"Also at this point I came to realize it makes little sense to go and listen.

Why?

Because components at a certain level, the very best ones aren’t really doing anything.

The perfect component does absolutely zero to make the sound good.

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Therefore, if you find something really good and you go to listen it is only going to reveal all the other crap in the system.

This is why I never bothered to go listen to Moabs even though I could have. If they are as good as I expect then I will only hear whatever they are connected to.

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That is why for going on 15 years now I have not listened to or auditioned one single thing I have added to my system.

Yet every single one of these additions has performed beyond expectations:

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Compare this to as many reviews and user comments as possible.

Along the way you get good enough reading reviews, sifting through comments, and understanding what all the various components do and how they contribute to the overall sound, that you don’t really even need to do this stuff any more."




Marvelous!

A fine example of self contained subjectivism, and not to mention self confessed expectancy bias, as you could ever hope to find.

Outside those select reviews you agree with there’s not a single external reference point anywhere!

Are you seriously recommending this ’method’ in preference to blind listening tests??

You do realise the enormous resources in time and money that you may end up in consuming in what may eventually account to little more than chasing your own tail?

You do?

Okay, then that’s fair enough.

If it actually sounds better or it doesn't but you think it does, all that matters is someone is happy with their purchase. Also, of course everyone's hearing and listening capabilities and appreciation is a big variable.

I have found some things don't do what I was told they would, and others did WAY more than I thought possible. By making these types of changes, you learn what can impact the sound the way you want. 

What listening in stores CAN do is if you compare one component to another while keeping everything else (and I mean everything) the same. Optimally playing a few records you know. Stores may not be so willing to do this....

Otherwise, I've had a salesman say that he was so sure of the improvement, I could take it home and if I wasn't amazed (not happy or satisfied), I could return it for a refund (not the BS store credit nonsense).

It was an arm, and it made more of a difference than upgrading the table separately keeping the new arm. He's never made that guarantee on anything else I was considering. He would say something like "I'd expect it or I am sure but I've never directly compared". Also, not willing to do the cash refund guarantee. That tells you something.

Because components at a certain level, the very best ones aren’t really doing anything.

The perfect component does absolutely zero to make the sound good.

----

Therefore, if you find something really good and you go to listen it is only going to reveal all the other crap in the system.

This is why I never bothered to go listen to Moabs even though I could have. If they are as good as I expect then I will only hear whatever they are connected to.

Your post reveal a general misunderstanding in audio customers community...

There is a fact in audio: What we listen to is not the "component" sound first and last...

For sure the quality of dac,turntable,amplifier and speakers is an UNAVOIDABLE fact also with which we must compose when buying what we can afford ONLY.... Then never the best for most of us.....

BUT what we listen to FIRST is the acoustical cues collected and filtered by the recording engineer, and what we listened to is delivered to ours ears by the gear but LAST TRANSLATED by the acoustical controls or lack of it in our room.... The acoustical cues of the recorded event being conveyed by the gear are RECREATED by the acoustical dimensions of our room.... We never listen to speakers, we listen to speakers/room....No piece of gear at any cost can replace acoustic laws playing between speakers/room/ears....

Ignoring that you claimed that you dont need to listen to the speakers, being Moab or anything, because " I will only hear whatever they are connected to." You are not completely right here....The speakers are not only connected to an audio system but to a room....

Then i think myself that the fundamental fact of audiophile life is acoustic treatment and more than that acoustic controls....

And anyway there is no " perfect component", contrary to what you just said, and any component add something of his own, this something added or substracted from an alleged "perfection" or imperfection can be corrected in a relative way by upgrading the system or part of it .... I chose to use acoustic controls and treatment because it is powerful and cost me peanuts....I dont need to upgrade my 500 bucks system at all and no system at any cost, most better than mine, can induce now the urge to do so for me, so powerful is Helmholtz mechanical equalization of the speakers/room (acoustic controls) ...


Anyway all systems at any cost, unbeknownst to most, are acoustically limited by the room where they are and the lack of control....

I will not speak here about the 2 others embeddings controls (mechanical and electrical) because so powerful they are, they are less impactful than acoustic....Anyway they are all important....

This is a fact.....And my experience....


By the way acousticians NEVER blindfold themselves and use their ears whatever their age after cleaning it for sure ....I imitate them... 😊


My best to you.....

Marvelous!

A fine example of self contained subjectivism, and not to mention self confessed expectancy bias, as you could ever hope to find.

Outside those select reviews you agree with there’s not a single external reference point anywhere!

Are you seriously recommending this ’method’ in preference to blind listening tests??

Yes. And I am seriously recommending you work on your reading skills. For starters, when you see the words, "at this point" like were used above that is a clue to consider what came prior to "at this point". Next I would suggest you consider anyone can make an airtight counter-argument easy as pie provided only they are willing to disregard the actual argument in favor of one made up out of thin air. The people who study logic call this the fallacy of the straw man.

You built a great big straw man. Congratulations! Now watch what happens the first little breeze comes along:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367

"That was the best the Who album has ever sounded and I’ve heard it on a lot of different systems... I mean a lot!

That spot, the listening chair is a very special place that went beyond just listening to music. Great job creating a near religious experience."

"you’re a better man than me - sharing your work and discoveries and opening yourself up to ignorant comments. But thank you! I’ve learned much from you."

"Suffice it to say, it was the biggest, most powerful musical experience I’ve ever experienced in a home setting."

"WOW ! Is all I have to say. I don’t see anything out of place, in this system . Well thought out."

"The imaging was so good that I felt like the vocalist was performing right in front of me and that I could reach out and touch them."

Does that sound like "chasing my own tail"? Are all these people suffering from "expectancy bias" too?

It’s hard to pick a favorite but for some reason right now it would probably be this one:

"you’re a better man than me - sharing your work and discoveries and opening yourself up to ignorant comments. But thank you! I’ve learned much from you."