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Amir and Blind Testing

Let me start by saying I like watching Amir from ASR, so please let’s not get harsh or the thread will be deleted. Many times, Amir has noted that when we’re inserting a new component in our system, our brains go into (to paraphrase) “analytical mode” and we start hearing imaginary improvements. He has reiterated this many times, saying that when he switched to an expensive cable he heard improvements, but when he switched back to the cheap one, he also heard improvements because the brain switches from “music enjoyment mode” to “analytical mode.” Following this logic, which I agree with, wouldn’t blind testing, or any A/B testing be compromised because our brains are always in analytical mode and therefore feeding us inaccurate data? Seems to me you need to relax for a few hours at least and listen to a variety of music before your brain can accurately assess whether something is an actual improvement.  Perhaps A/B testing is a strawman argument, because the human brain is not a spectrum analyzer.  We are too affected by our biases to come up with any valid data.  Maybe. 

chayro
reven6e
44 posts
 

End of the day let’s all agree to disagree. Some people enjoy Amir’s opinions. Others don’t.
 

I personally can’t be bothered to validate or comment on his experiments because, unlike Amir, who KNOWS he can’t be wrong because his numbers don’t lie, I have had first hand experience with some of the “exposed” products and I couldn’t disagree more with him. I don’t care what Amir thinks he KNOWS about a power plant because I have heard both P12 and P20 extensively and the difference they make in some systems is not subtle. I have heard what an audiophile switch can do even connected to cheap and cheerful streamers so, again, his lambasting falls on deaf ears.
 

My advice to his followers is simply to go out, listen, make up their own minds. Most of these products can be demoed for free, PS Audio has a generous return policy, no questions asked. Why not try a P12 for free and see whether Amir is indeed the Neo in our audiophile Matrix or the woman in the red dress? 
 

Enjoy the music🕺

milpai's avatar
milpai
2,414 posts
 

My advice to his followers is simply to go out, listen, make up their own minds.

Not sure if your advice makes sense to the ASR crowd. Because if the measurements are not good,  then the product is outright dismissed. They follow ASR mod's mind, not their own. You have high expectations from people who refuse to use their senses and rely on tech measurements, exclusively 😀.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,389 posts
 

Enough of the us versus them. We are all the same. We use the tools at our disposal to assess and make decisions. Some do it better than others and some  are kind enough to share their findings.

Post removed 
reven6e
44 posts
 


and I will assume for the sake of this conversation that Amir is well intended and professes what he believes to be true. I will assume that his forum is his pet project meant to “debunk” years of supremacist audiophile unobtanium. The happy few will continue to revel in the performance of their true to life systems while ASR fans will take great pleasure in sharing the critical opinion of their oscilloscope guru, Matrix references and all.

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