In defense of ABX testing

"01-17-15: Bob_reynolds
Drs. Floyd Toole and Sean Olive have been doing blind listening tests of loudspeakers for over a decade."

I've seen all these before. I'm assuming everyone else here has too because they are fairly popular. They don't address the issue here, and that's comparing specific pieces of components. Here's a piece of the OP.

"Especially the reviewers, who do us a disservice by endlessly writing articles claiming the latest tweak or gadget revolutionized the sound of their system."

Can you show us some scientificly valid listening tests that were done comparing individual components as part of a review?

Judging from the AES paper by Olive the listening tests are, in fact, excessively complicated, a criticism he dismisses. Furthermore the listening tests apparently involved only frequency response. What happened to other audiophile parameters such as musicality, transparency, soundstaging ability, dynamics, sweetness, warmth, micro dynamics, pace, rhythm, coherence, to name a few? One supposes testing for those parameters would make the tests way too complicated. Maybe Olive thinks those parameters are too subjective, who knows?

Scientifically valid is the key phrase. There is no agreement in the scientific community with respect to audio tests. In fact, the scientific community could give a rat's behind about audio or audiophiles or testing audiophile devices, any of that. Hel-looo! If someone says he represents the scientific community in any of this controlled blind testing business or any type of testing for that matter, he's just pulling your leg.

"01-17-15: Geoffkait
Judging from the AES paper by Olive the listening tests are, in fact, excessively complicated, a criticism he dismisses. Furthermore the listening tests apparently involved only frequency response. What happened to other audiophile parameters such as musicality, transparency, soundstaging ability, dynamics, sweetness, warmth, micro dynamics, pace, rhythm, coherence, to name a few? One supposes testing for those parameters would make the tests way too complicated. Maybe Olive thinks those parameters are too subjective, who knows?"

You couldn't have said it any better. If you read through the Hydrogen posts, those guys get mad because the reviewer listens to a component and puts what he hears into a review. What else would you have them do? I mean the intended purpose of a piece of audio equipment is to use it to listen to music. The nerve!

Bob_reynolds,

You've stated in the past, in no uncertain terms, that you can look at the specs of a component and tell how it sounds, without listening to it. Do you really expect anyone to believe that you can list all the qualities that Geoffkait states in his post without listening to whatever the component is? Its hard enough to do that when you have the piece in your own listening room.