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Amir and Blind Testing

Let me start by saying I like watching Amir from ASR, so please let’s not get harsh or the thread will be deleted. Many times, Amir has noted that when we’re inserting a new component in our system, our brains go into (to paraphrase) “analytical mode” and we start hearing imaginary improvements. He has reiterated this many times, saying that when he switched to an expensive cable he heard improvements, but when he switched back to the cheap one, he also heard improvements because the brain switches from “music enjoyment mode” to “analytical mode.” Following this logic, which I agree with, wouldn’t blind testing, or any A/B testing be compromised because our brains are always in analytical mode and therefore feeding us inaccurate data? Seems to me you need to relax for a few hours at least and listen to a variety of music before your brain can accurately assess whether something is an actual improvement.  Perhaps A/B testing is a strawman argument, because the human brain is not a spectrum analyzer.  We are too affected by our biases to come up with any valid data.  Maybe. 

chayro

Showing 6 responses by reven6e

reven6e
44 posts
 

I once wasted my time watching a video “review” of some audiophile switches. It was half an hour of blah blah blah about how his measurements demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt that there was absolutely no measurable difference between X Y and Z switches therefore it was impossible to hear any difference so it was all in your small “audiophile” brain, his mantra so to speak. Then he went on to briefly demo the switches he had just “measured” in his (joke of a) system. And guess what: he could clearly hear a difference. His wife could hear a difference. According to him the audiophile switches sounded significantly and audibly worse.
 

Without realising he had just contradicted and refuted his half hour case for “it’s in your head”. If he accepts that his experience contradicts his measurements, for better or worse, then his measurements are flawed. For me Amir became irrelevant after that video.

reven6e
44 posts
 

Please supply a link to this video review.  I'd enjoy watching it, not least because I've not witnessed Amir bringing his wife in for a hearing experiment - was it an A/B blind test?

Sorry Noske, this was probably about a year ago. Not a regular on their forum and not a big fan. His Matrix borrowed “there is no spoon” mantra and all his psycho babble about expectation bias is in fact a business. He is probably making good money (YouTube + Google) telling people with limited funds what they want to hear: money doesn’t make one happy. The expensive conditioner is a con. Expensive cables are a con. Expensive DACs are a con. Expensive headphones are a con. And so it goes. You don’t actually have to read or watch any of his reviews because you know exactly what his conclusion is going to be. Singxer and Topping are awesome. Audiophile is a synonym for a fool.

If you enjoy this rhetoric do live your life in oblivion (to quote his favourite movie), learn nothing, keep your RME and Singxer with the conviction, no the certainty, that you have the best money can buy. And be happy. If however you ever want to try the red pill, I suggest you actually demo a power plant, a good DAC, a Melco S100. You don’t need an Amir to tell you how to hear and what to think. It’s easy enough to make up your own mind. You just have to have an open mind and be ready to embrace the new.

In my book spoons do exist. Otherwise we would eat like dogs. 

reven6e
44 posts
 

Dear Noske, Alexander Dumas once said something very wise: all generalisations are dangerous, including this one. If I am uncomfortable about something, it’s some guru telling people there is no spoon and capitalism is rotten. That is Amir. 

He believes that he has nailed what over fifty years of audio science have failed to grasp: that numbers tell the whole story. He believes, no he knows, that if he can’t measure a claim, it’s a lie. He knows there is no difference because his software and pro audio equipment (anybody uses that at home, by the way?) tells him so. Therefore there can be no difference. And although he concedes he can hear a difference, he tries to validate his thesis with a ridiculous mumbo jumbo of Matrix references, neuroscience and psychology.
 

If this is where you belong, enjoy the comfort of half truths. 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/do-audiophile-network-switches-make-a-difference-video.20316/
 

 

reven6e
44 posts
 

Currently it is an LLC (Audio Science Review LLC, registered in Washington State). It is not setup as a non-profit with respect to IRS so unfortunately your donations are not tax deductible. Worse yet, I have to pay taxes on them.

Edit: I am highlighting this as there still seems to be some confusion about this.

I stand corrected. There are no ads on their forum or YouTube channel. However please see above. In other words the website does generate revenue (profit). 

reven6e
44 posts
 

End of the day let’s all agree to disagree. Some people enjoy Amir’s opinions. Others don’t.
 

I personally can’t be bothered to validate or comment on his experiments because, unlike Amir, who KNOWS he can’t be wrong because his numbers don’t lie, I have had first hand experience with some of the “exposed” products and I couldn’t disagree more with him. I don’t care what Amir thinks he KNOWS about a power plant because I have heard both P12 and P20 extensively and the difference they make in some systems is not subtle. I have heard what an audiophile switch can do even connected to cheap and cheerful streamers so, again, his lambasting falls on deaf ears.
 

My advice to his followers is simply to go out, listen, make up their own minds. Most of these products can be demoed for free, PS Audio has a generous return policy, no questions asked. Why not try a P12 for free and see whether Amir is indeed the Neo in our audiophile Matrix or the woman in the red dress? 
 

Enjoy the music🕺

reven6e
44 posts
 


and I will assume for the sake of this conversation that Amir is well intended and professes what he believes to be true. I will assume that his forum is his pet project meant to “debunk” years of supremacist audiophile unobtanium. The happy few will continue to revel in the performance of their true to life systems while ASR fans will take great pleasure in sharing the critical opinion of their oscilloscope guru, Matrix references and all.

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