Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

amir_asr

You have not told us about any listening tests you have passed ...I have most definitely pass double blind tests of high-res vs CD ... This made it impossible to tell the files by analyzing them using computer software. I passed this test ... I not only passed this test, but I created a video on how I managed to do that ... I show results of other difficult double blind tests I have passed ... here is another public test ... I managed to pass it while no audiophile dared to even try ...So please don’t imply you can pass such tests and I can’t ...

This shows a complete misunderstanding as to the nature of double-blind testing in audio, such as ABX testing. Such tests are not designed to test the listener - that’s the role of an audiologist. The listener isn’t under test at all. What’s being tested is whether two signals can be distinguished under the conditions of the test. That’s why the best blind test programs include multiple listeners and multiple trials.

Some might argue that, if a specific listener claims to expect a difference between, say, a hi-res and lo-res signal, that an ABX test with him is "testing the listener." But that’s mistaken. Such a test could only reveal whether that listener could distinguish a difference under the conditions of the test. Again, this why is why multiple tests yield more useful information.

It’s rather odd that Amir is so preoccupied with conducting measurements that he sometimes doesn’t bother to listen to the devices he tests, and yet on the other hand issues such proclamations about the tests he’s claimed to have "passed."

As an aside, conducting a proper audio double-blind test is tricky business. I've seen it done and it's not as easy as it looks. When they’re well conducted, I’ve found that many differences become harder to distinguish than might be expected. When they are improperly conducted, such a test has no advantage over a sighted test and can yield misleading results.

@ossicle2brain  let’s listen to a magico M9 with a SVS prime, that’s a good combo, right?

ignoring measurements puts you at a very expensive disadvantage. 

@fredrik222 

ignoring measurements puts you at a very expensive disadvantage. 

It certainly does.

It also brings to mind those wise words often attributed to Mark Twain

"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read."

"So you are saying that you learn nothing from measurements of these two speakers?"

 

Yeah they have different frequency response charts by your methods.

I would avoid looking at that before listening so I know I don’t have a bias.

And flat FR is sometimes boring.

Virtually useless and perhaps harmful for deciding which sounds better.

Maybe I like resonances at those fregs.

40+ years of research into this topic shows that you are highly unlikely, when you don't the identity of those speakers, to prefer one with resonances and all those frequency response errors.  

Regardless, let's state that your assertion that I responded to is profoundly wrong:

And just to repeat, Amir has made me realize how little measurements actually matter. 

In the hands of anyone with any familiarity with them, they are powerful tools to determine fidelity and tonality of those speakers.  And clearly, absolutely clearly, show the design mistakes in one of them.

The right response from you would have been that you were talking about electronics and not speakers and headphones.  But you are deciding to double down with "I may this" or "I may that."  W

I have most definitely pass double blind tests of high-res vs CD. Keep in mind that a high-res vs CD test can NOT be done in a browser.   I know because my team at Microsoft wrote the audio stack. 

So Amir, if you knew all about blind testing at MS, how do you explain this AFTER you retired?

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/establishing-differences-by-the-10-volume-method.1136745/#post-16216826

I did not level match anything. However, once I found one source was worse than the other, I would then turn up the volume to counter any effect there. Indeed, doing so would close the gap some but it never changed the outcome. Note that the elevated level clearly made that source sound louder than the other. So the advantage was put on the losing side.

Which version of Amir is to be believed above?

I not only passed this test, but I created a video on how I managed to do that.  It required knowledge of signal processing of what you lose when going from 24 bit to 16 bit, and of course, training required to be able to hear such small differences.  Here is the video which again, I post earlier:

https://youtu.be/0KX2yk-9ygk

Ah, the video where you are sitting in front of all the electronic analyzers that you used to visually real time analyze the ABX signals?

How many tests have you passed not run by Amir?

Would you do a proctored one at PAF 2024? Or only doctored?