my take on blind tests


ABX tests shows that there are no difference between cables. However, many of us would disagree. I took similar test and must admit that I had problems with hearing the difference.

And then it came to me. There is a difference between listenig and hearing.

Even if there are no differences in sound we can hear them because we are listenig. Listening is paying attention to the whole experience and not only to allow our ears to enter the sound.

Bottom line is, if you hear the difference when you see which cable is on and hear no difference when you cannot see, let it be.

We pay for the whole experience, not sound waves alone.

What do you guys think?
sebastian_bik
The differences between cables are as significant to my ears as what I hear when evaluating electronics and speakers, but of course I don't close my ears (or my eyes) when making such evaluations. Perhaps I'll give this blind testing thing a shot when selecting my next automobile.

LM
Many times I have stuck something in my system with the preconceived notion that is would be better. It just had to be better. But it was not. I'd spend hours trying to convince myself that is was really better, but something else was off. In the end it was not better. If I am just imagining things, it would have always sounded better in those situations, since I was favorably biased going in.

In a classical music context, there are many who think the conductor does not matter. After all, the top orchestras have world class musicians in them who know what they are doing.

About six-seven years ago I heard a young (roughly 32 year old) unknown guest conduct in Baltimore. I was very impressed. Six months later I heard him conduct again. I heard the same excellence. Was I imagining things? Well, he was just hired (still under 40 years old) to be the new Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The only other time they hired someone young was Bernstein. People that young just don't get jobs like that with million dollar salaries. So I can't be the only person who heard what I heard.
"The only other time they hired someone young was Bernstein. So I can't be the only person who heard it."

This is much harder to accomplish via dbt.
Actually orchestras do blind testing. Not in the case of conductors, but most major orchestras do blind open auditions of musicians applying to fill a full time rank and file position. They play behind a partition. The judges cannot see who it is. They have to vote solely on what they heard.
there are two errors in listening: fialing to hear what is present and hearing what isn't there.

what is needed is replication, numerous times, to try to eliminate or reveal these errors.

in the end, if a person is satisfied with the performance of a stereo system after changing a component, all "tests" are irrelevant.