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Blind or Just Deaf?

Does anyone following these forums actually insist
on doing a "Blind" listening test before laying out
several thousand on a new piece?

Or is a little Herb wax all you need to slip into something comfortable?

I do not necessarily mean in your own listening room
as that is difficult to do. If you have to bring your own
Amp or speaker to a retailer then you have done what can be done.
Or you may be comparing two items you do not own.

Finally, would you pay $ for a blind comparative listening session
at a properly set up facility?

I have an idea I think may be a good one.
Not from Dwight either.

Comments??


chorus

Showing 2 responses by edcyn

edcyn
1,876 posts
 
I'm always happy to do a double-blind test.  As long as I trust the test-giver & venue, supply my own test recordings, be the person who matches the sound levels and is the person who gives the order to do the change.  I've actually done it more than once.  It's what induced me to purchase both my speakers and my integrated amp...and to not purchase another integrated amp.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
Chorus -- I can't remember the exact speakers that were in the comparo where I wound up buying my current Nola Boxers, but I believe they were the equivalent-sized B&Ws, or perhaps a pair of Rogers.  I've never had a megawatt stereo system or a large room to play them in, and I've loved Brit monitors ever since I got a pair of KEF Corellis, who knows when.  For the speaker comparison I also dragged in the pair of speakers I had the time, Celestion SL600's.   As for the amp comparo (which happened some time later), I brought in my Primaluna Prologue integrated to face off against a Lyngdorf room-correcting integrated.  I'd bought my Boxers at the place where I did the amp audition and they still had a pair, so I didn't have to bring them, as well.  I preferred the Primaluna.  For all its high-tech wizardry, the Lyngdorf didn't throw that much better of a soundstage, and the sound felt a hair hyped up and artificial.  Even the salesman agreed that the Primaluna sounded better.

So yeah, these may not have been strictly kosher double-blind situations but I had the money burning a hole in my pocket when I went to the stores, and I didn't have a hair of emotional prejudice. 
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