I see the issue with ABX blind testing

With usual my computer speaker (Bose companion 3),best sound (0:17), 2nd best (0:50), Worst (1:08).

This shows the difference between listening to sound where we know what we're hearing and can be influenced vs a blind test. I was falling into this trap when I first put the Transparent cables in place and though it took 15 minutes I was sure that they sounded better. Later after swapping back I could see there was no difference. 

My dealer says that no one has ever returned cables after an audition in his 45 years experience. His opinion is that Super was not a high enough level to notice and he would like to bring by Ultra or better and witness the swap and resulting sound himself. 

In my experience there is a very strong motivation to hear an improvement because you want your system to sound the best that it can and if others say that better cables produce better sound then you should hedge your bets and get the best cables you can afford. I'm willing to bet that a second sub will have a much bigger effect than a cable swap at a fraction of the cost.

Thanks for all of your responses.

Adding a second sub is almost always a great idea, and if you’re having difficulties hearing significant improvements with much pricier cables then I agree you will almost certainly hear a bigger improvement with a second, properly dialed-in sub.  FWIW.

dwcda OP

With usual my computer speaker (Bose companion 3),best sound (0:17), 2nd best (0:50), Worst (1:08).

This shows the difference between listening to sound where we know what we’re hearing and can be influenced vs a blind test.

I agree. Human ears are tricky and our hearing is influenced always.

While I agree on your above statement, below things should be clear. The info about ABX material must be clear and correct.

1) My audio system sound is cleanest in the world (in reproduction audio) and it shows coloration of 4 PC’s sounds clearer than any other system. Editing video damages the sound in it. Your video sound is very different from my video. Your video is colored like other video’s sound. So, it is harder to hear the difference.

2) You wrote there are 7 PCs but it was not 7 PCs. Some were just repeat. It’s like a trap and bring a confusion.

IDing the sound is hard and you had wrong info with degraded sounds. You believe they are same sounds but it’s not. It’s not a good ABX case.

I and many a’philes I took decades to earn seasoned ears. Seasoned ears (who can hear the cleaner, un-veiled, less colored sound) can hear more easily (still not easy) the clean and better sound. However, it is very hard (impossible?) for un-seasoned ears (listening harsh sounds for all life) to hear the clean and better sound. It will take some times to have open-ears. Not in a couple of minutes for sure. Alex/WTA

@mahgister Always talking about acoustics, he is right and I say that with a unique perspective making recording all over the world and listing to my own recording all over the world.

I greatly appreciate your feedback on my own experience . I dont have yours in all the world studios then i am way less credible than you are ...

But you certainly can imagine that 2 years full time in a dedicated homemade acoustical room with hundred of experiments along basic acoustics concepts convince me of what you just said in the rest of your posts...

Most people cannot do what i have done because it takes a room your wife will never enter into 😁... And so much time that it had been full time reading, thinking , tinkering 2 years being retired...

Now i learned enough to be cured of gear upgrade audiophilia...

thanks for your kind word ...

2) You wrote there are 7 PCs but it was not 7 PCs. Some were just repeat. It’s like a trap and bring a confusion.

ABX implies that you listen to A, then B and then X which will be either A or B. Paul McGowan of PS Audio is of the same opinion that you are, he doesn't like the X part of ABX as he feels that he's being tricked. But it's not meant to trick you,  it's meant to discern whether you  can actually distinguish the difference between A & B and identify them when you don't know which you're listening to. If, after hearing A & B you can't tell which thing X represents that's a pretty good indication that they are indistinguishable.

I'm content with where I've ended up  on  this journey & you sound like you are too. We can part as friends & move on.