2. misc-audio
  3. 170173-84906

Telling musicians to evaluate and choose their instruments in a “scientific” way?

How do you think this would go over?

“This mass produced guitar measures the same as your vintage Martin on my oscilloscope, so any difference you hear is just expectation bias.” “You need to do a double blind test to prove there’s a difference!” “Rosewood is rosewood, there’s no difference between this Brazilian that’s been seasoned for 20 years and that Indonesian that came off the boat a month ago, you’re being taken in!”

tommylion
tommylion OP
874 posts
 
Making great musical instruments involves all kinds of “art”, all kinds of things things that can only be measured by (experienced) ears. The same goes for making great music. Making great “instruments” to reproduce this music in our homes is totally “scientific”, measurable and quantifiable, though🙄 No need to use our ears.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
What does this have to due with Audio?
tablejockey
3,886 posts
 
It's the actual musician that makes an instrument sing, not how exclusive the instrument is. A better sounding instrument will  however, inspire the musician to play better.

A good player with a cheap guitar vs a hack with a very nice guitar will always draw  more attention.
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
To your (the OP's) point:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202105252

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/study-confirms-superior-sound-of-a-stradivari-is-due-to-the-...
tommylion OP
874 posts
 

“It's the actual musician that makes an instrument sing, not how exclusive the instrument is. A better sounding instrument will however, inspire the musician to play better.

A good player with a cheap guitar vs a hack with a very nice guitar will always draw more attention.”

Just like the best possible system you could put together with an unlimited budget wouldn’t be very appealing if you didn’t have any good music to play through it.
More to discover