Maybe he didn’t know capacitors take a long time to burn in. 🤗
Blind fold hearing test
How many of you could be blind folded or put in a room in total darkness and know what kind of speaker amp and preamp are being used. Another words if u came blind folded in my listening room could u tell I was using a Krell amp a ARC pre and B&W speakers? Not necessarily the models but more or less the brands. I would be the first to say for me it would be no. Would love to see how many of you could. Should be interesting.
Showing 8 responses by geoffkait
If I’m not mistaken, what Julian Hirsch actually stated is that generally amplifiers that measure the same sound about the same. Which is obviously different than saying all amplifiers sound the same. Of course, today, 40 years later, we know there are many more variables involved in the sound of an amplifier including, but not limited to, vibration isolation, speaker cables, power cords, fuses, capacitors, and room acoustics. |
There are several perfectly valid reasons why some people don’t hear differences between amps or between anything. A Blind test result that has negative results actually does not mean much. Now, if there is a pattern of many independent negative results that would perhaps be more convincing. It depends on the data, how many negative results and how many positive results. |
cd318 Perhaps we audiophiles are not seeing the wood for the trees. Perhaps most of the so-called huge, night and day differences in performance we often read about are in fact barely perceptible? >>>>Not everyone reports night and day differences. Some people report modest differences. Some people report no differences. And, can you believe it, some people report worse results? I recall being struck by the sheer honesty when I heard that McIntosh themselves claimed no sonic advantages of any of their lovely amplifiers. >>>>I doubt that’s true. If it doesn’t make sense it’s probably not true. Anyway, as I’ve just ordered a copy of West Side Story CD (1957 original Broadway cast) it will be interesting to discover just how much better this Sony Mastersound SBM version is than the stock issue. I do think it’s telling that one of popular music’s most dynamic recordings was done over 60 years ago! >>>>Depends on the system and the listener to some degree. Could the SBM version be worse than the original? Happens all the time. There’s no guarantee. As is the fact that another highly regarded audiophile album, (the Cowboy Junkies much feted Trinity Session) was recorded on a Sony Betamax SL-2000 video cassette deck, albeit with a super duper microphone. >>>That recording was done in a church, which largely explains the sound quality. |
I absolutely refuse to get sucked into another blind testing debate but suffice it to say if blind testing was such a critical thing don’t you think, gentle readers, that amplifier designers and speaker designers would employ blind testing to obtain optimum results? Of course, nobody does as far as I know, well, maybe one. |
Everything sounds different in different rooms and in different systems. Thus, you won’t be able to figure out what speakers, what amps, what cables, etc. you’re listening to if you were blindfolded. The corollary of that statement is you cannot foretell what a system will sound like by knowing what components or speakers or cables are in the system. Nor can you tell what a system would sound like by looking at a picture of the system and the room. I’m afraid, gentle readers, those are all old wives tales. |