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The High End and Glubglub

The High End has had many arguments in which certain types of equipment were and are considered inherently inferior for a variety of reasons: among these the single-ended tube amps which were dismissed by many, single-driver speakers, the ever-popular idler-wheel drives which I espouse, let's not forget tube amps which were practically universally dismissed in the late 60s and through the 70s, and so on. So what was going on in these varoious and ongoing debates? I sumbmit for your perusal the following gem I found in a discussion of logic: "What he (the skeptic) wants it is logically impossible to supply. But doesn't the logical impossibility of the skeptic's demand defeat his cause? If he raises a logically impossible demand, can we be expected to fulfill it? He says we have no evidence, but whatever we adduce he refuses to count as evidence. At least we know what we would count as evidence, and we show him what it is. But he only shakes his head and says it isn't evidence. But then surely he is using the word "evidence" in a very peculiar way (a meaningless way?), so that nothing whatever would count as a case of it...Might he not just as well say, "There is no glubglub?""
johnnantais
plato
1,543 posts
 
Hey, as long as you can hear differences and improvements, then what does it matter what anyone else thinks. Certainly there is ample room in this hobby for skepticism. I used to get the old "double-blind-test-routine," all the time. Personally, I feel double-blind tests themselves are inherently flawed and are not a good tool to discern small differences.

My philosophy is that if I try something and I think it makes an improvement, I keep it; if not, I don't. Beyond that, I don't need to convince anyone or justify my decisions to the rest of the world. Life is just too short and there's too much good music out there to listen to!!!
johnnantais OP
621 posts
 
Good response, Plato. Unfortunately, it doesn't go far enough, as designers are influenced by this type of irrational thinking as well. For at least a decade, single-ended amps were universally dismissed in America while the Japanese sat over there enjoying them. So for a decade, perhaps many people missed an experience they would later come to love, while living with designs which simply didn't push their fun buttons. Now the North American market has an embarrasment of riches, and new designs - both of sensitive speakers with an easy load and the delicate and delicious amps to drive them: a Paradigm Shift. It is not an issue if it only concerns convincing others of your findings when you are a simple consumer, it is an issue when this attitude prevents advancement of the art, and deprives consumers of what may be better choices, at least for them. In this case, you would never get the chance to hear something which might have appealed to you. An interesting thought: just how did the single-ended craze start over here? And you are right with respect to double-blind tests, as many of the things various items do are too subtle to be recognized immediately.
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Making a good argument, like virtue, is its own reward. If your goal is to *convert* someone to your way of thinking (or hearing) and you find yourself frustrated and angry when your subject fails to transform -- that's pretty good evidence that your goal has degraded your enterprise.
By all means, be opinionated and entertaining, be passionate, but in the end -- it's only music. A little perspective is in order. At the end of the day, each of us is entitled to like what we like, hear what we hear, to worship at the alter of whichever audio god we choose. After all, we are all bound by a common love -- of music.
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