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Have You Ever Put Your Golden Ears to the Test??

First let me say that I'm not one of the naysayers that Twl refers to in his thread about "Sonic Relativism", so please no attacks. I have no agenda.

I'm just curious if any of you have (or would be willing to) put your ears to the test in the way of a blind comparison. If so, what were the results? It can be quite rewarding to know that you can discern differences between things such as cables, DACs, etc.

I was at a good friend's house this weekend and we decided to do some blind comparisons of CD vs. SACD. We had three discs of various types of music (Friday Night in San Francisco, Keb' Mo and Harry Connick Jr.). I sat in the sweet spot and my friend switched discs playing one cut from each disc CD/SACD at random.

I could discern the CD from the SACD every time, but I have to say that the differences were more subtle than I expected. Of course, I'm no scientist so my methods may be open for scrutiny. I'm just curious how many of you try similar tests?

I always find it interesting when people say that they "heard" a cd player (or other component) and it was really great or really crappy or not very exciting. This almost always refers to having heard it at a dealer. How do they know they didn't "hear" the other components? What's the point of reference? The only way to really listen to components or accessories is within the confines of a "reference" system. For most of us that simply means our own system. And even then, the only way to confirm that we're hearing what we "think" we're hearing is to do some sort of blind test.

So...How many of you have put your ears to the test? If you haven't...Would you? If not...Why not?
danheather
kemp
20 posts
 
I guess all I can say is that I have been the test subject in a blind test for cables. I was sure I could hear a difference until I couldn't identify my expensive stuff from my inexpensive stuff. The three other audiophiles I was with couldn't tell the difference either. For me, the claims of psycho-accoustics are real. I "heard" a difference because I had to justify it to myself why I spent that much on a cable. Now, I can't claim to have heard every cable, but I do know that I won't spend tons of money on cables ever again, speakers and room placement is where it is at if you want to tweak your system.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I thought anything that cannot be understood/explained is God's will. Are audiophiles mostly creationists or darwinists?
albertporter's avatar
albertporter
4,949 posts
 
All this discussion reminds me of a situation that occurred at a conference in Chicago.

There was a group of chess enthusiasts who were checked into my hotel and were all standing around in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.

After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.

"But why?" one asked, as they moved off.

"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

Nearly ruined my golden ears.
ozfly
887 posts
 
Albert, that was bad, but I loved it! Let's move back to beer tasting for a moment.

I had a number of parties where blind beer tasting was the theme and involved at least five couples. We even kept score and rewarded the individual who was closest to their original guess in rating beers (least squared difference & forced spread of ratings). More often than not, people were surprised. They could absolutely tell the difference among beers but it did not correlate well with their day to day preferences.

Why? I think it's because we had to keep the portions reasonably small so people could drive home. Like a too forward top end, it sounds pretty nice in the short term. With the beer, we would have been better off with a couple of bottles of each brew. With audio equipment, you are better off with several hours of experimentation (unless, like Twl, you are already familiar with the equipment).

The problem? With beer, you get drunk too quickly to compare more than a few. With audio, you start forgetting all the nuances (well, I do anyway) of earlier stuff unless it is your reference equipment -- this is a hobby of nuances. Alas, I'm only good at blind tests when taken over a long period of time and with limited comparisions (which is not to say I don't know what I like and I am quite willing to reject some stuff pretty quickly -- the issue is with the nuances once you get past the reject pile). That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! Good post.
newbee
4,796 posts
 
sugarbrie, if i admit to being a darwinist does that mean i can't pray to a god? do i get drummed out of the audiophile corp? i think its safer to try to be a darwinian revisionist while attending regular services. lord, its tuff being agnostic, please help me. :-}
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