So how much do you think the placebo effect impacts our listening preferences?

@asctim,
"From what I’ve heard about pain killing placebos is that they don’t actually work when measuring pain objectively - which is usually done with a range of motion test. A person on a placebo will say they feel better and the pain is less bothersome, but when they are asked to lift their arm up, as in the case of shoulder pain, they can’t actually lift it any higher. With a real pain killer they can - although maybe they shouldn’t!"


Good point.

The placebo effect seems to have no objective foundation on reality and appears be almost entirely generated within the mind of the subject.

That’s why there are regulations that all stage hypnotists are required to adhere to.
The world of the subconscious mind still remains largely unexplored and mysterious over a 100 years after Freud drew our attention to it.

However you can bet your bottom dollar that all kinds of folk, all the way from government research and law enforcement agencies to vast international marketing and advertising departments are all deeply interested in its workings.

Oh what big eyes you have grandma!
The better to help you spend your money my dear!

Placebo effect play full range when people stay " passive" consumers...

Placebo effect is under the spell and control of "active" players BECAUSE They experiment with their listening and gear...They TEST the placebos....No need to use James Randi Blind test.... Any simple blind test will do....

Money means way less than people think in audio and placebo is neutralized easily in mechanical, electrical and acoustic experiments and embeddings controls....

Biases are not only negative influences to be eliminated they can be also a positive teacher to be used all along the RIGHT path for the ears and mind.... Call that a self education...

For headphones, i scrap all my 7 headphones ( magneplanar, electrostatic, dynamic and hybrid) for my 500 bucks rightfully embedded system at low cost because they cannot hold a candle to it....Then placebo with headphones? No more....It is more easy to control the room/speakers relation than the ready made shell box and the limitations of any headphones...

People dont learn to trust themselves, they trust money and reviews.... 

I am man enough to admit when I was wrong. The placebo effect is in fact very real. In fact, the placebo effect is so powerful that last night it transported me from Bo Derek’s place to Bo Jackson’s. Could almost swear I caught a glimpse of Bo Peep just before the effect wore off.

Jackson I must say is holding up better.

@mahgister  

"It is more easy to control the room/speakers relation than the ready made shell box and the limitations of any headphones."


WWWWWWWWWHAT???

The room/speaker factor is the single most difficult thing in a loudspeaker system to get correct. Room dimensions, reflection points, nulls, etc. This is the single greatest headache of getting a loudspeaker system correct, in my opinion.
With headphones, you don't have to worry about any of that.

Please clarify because I'm having a hard time trying to make heads or tails of what you said.

The room/speaker factor is the single most difficult thing in a loudspeaker system to get correct. Room dimensions, reflection points, nulls, etc. This is the single greatest headache of getting a loudspeaker system correct, in my opinion.
With headphones, you don’t have to worry about any of that.

Please clarify because I’m having a hard time trying to make heads or tails of what you said.

You are right the room/speakers is the most difficult thing to get corrected FOR SURE....

BUT when you start with an empty room the road is LONG and the POSSIBILITIES in acoustic controls HUGE...

Then the difference between your room BEFORE acoustic treatment and controls and AFTER it, is nothing less than COLOSSAL....If rightly done and remember that passive treatment in general dont replace active control with Helmholtz method....


When you buy an headphone if you mod it, damp it, anyway possible the difference between before and after are relatively big sometimes NEVER colossal... Because you are stuck with the acoustical properties of the shell chosen by the designer...


The room enclosure by contrast is malleable like an acoustical clay.... Give me a room i will recreate it at no cost....I know how now...

my headphones i modded all of them the seven with success....But no comparison between them and the COLOSSAL potential of the speakers/room SQ...They all sleep in my drawer now... 2 dynamic 2 electroacoustic, 2 magneplanar, one hybrid...I begin my audio journey 8 years ago or 9  with many headphones because i was flabbergasted by the improvement in S.Q. compared to my speakers/room untreated and uncontrolled...

Is it clearer?

It will take very serious headphones to beat my 500 bucks system room now...none of my 7 one could do it....Even improved by mechanical and acoustical controls....

I dont want to pay 6 thousand dollars for a dedicated headphones system to be relatively on par with my room even if possible but it is not.....Save perhaps the more costly one i dont know....