Can even a Novice hear differences in Sound Qualit

Pettyofficer, the blind testing I was referring to was used to compare coupling capacitors-- which may move some audiophiles to orgasm, while barely eliciting a yawn from non-critical listeners.

I don't discount epiphanies in audio or in anything else. I wish could tease my teenager away from her MP3 toward better audio. Unfortunately that one isn't happening--unless maybe I stop torturing her with Anthony Braxton and Ornette Coleman.

I recently read a white paper on controlled blind listening tests in which the results were random with a panel of non-audiophile listeners under tightly controlled conditions. The results became meaningful with experienced listeners, and more so when experienced listeners were able to exercise personal control over A/B source switching at leisure. It would seem that above posters' points regarding interest level, level of experience, and level of psychological involvement, are all pertinent in decoding the subtleties of audio.

Pettyofficer, in this particular forum, such rants without disclosing the specific components in one's system reveal very little. IME all the formats can be quite satisfying. As far as the record industry is concerned, in the current state of economic decline it's tempting to quote an old movie: "They shoot horses don't they?" If one is looking for a cause, I would lean toward health care reform.

If you are a hiker, you have scaled false peaks that reveal other false peaks before the summit. The big questions of "What does the CD format really sound like?" or "What does vinyl really sound like?" are not answered at the false peaks. Climb thee higher oh pettyofficer, for I fear that such answers are not revealed at sea level.

Now Pettyofficer, in refutation of such nonsense consider that The Truth About De-Evolution (full title: In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution) was the first music video created by the band Devo. Filmed in 1974, it contains two separate songs: Secret Agent Man and Jocko Homo. It won First Prize at the Ann Arbor film festival, and was routinely screened before Devo live concerts.

The film begins with an extreme close-up of a television, switching between channels while odd gibberish noises play in the background. The film title is superimposed over the television screen. The scene fades to a shot of a factory (filmed at the Goodyear World of Rubber in Akron, Ohio). Members of Devo in its quartet stage are seen in blue workmen's suits, operating machinery, until one notices it is time to go. All the band members wear clear face masks, except for Mark Mothersbaugh, who appears in his Booji Boy mask. The members leave work and get into a car. They pull up behind a club (allegedly JB's in Kent, Ohio) and enter, carrying instruments. A sign on the door reads "Tonight: 15-60-75", a snide reference to The Numbers Band, which Gerald Casale played bass for at one point. The Secret Agent Man performance begins, featuring Bob Mothersbaugh on guitar, Gerald Casale on bass, Jim Mothersbaugh on electric bongos, and Mark Mothersbaugh/Booji Boy on synthesizers. The performance routinely cuts away to bizarre visuals, such as two men in monkey masks spanking a woman with ping-pong paddles, or a punk playing a double-neck guitar plugged into a space heater. The segment ends with a fadeout of Mark Mothersbaugh in a John F. Kennedy mask.

The Jocko Homo segment begins with Booji Boy running through an Akron parking lot. He enters a building through the fire escape to meet with General Boy. They exchange papers, and General Boy makes a statement: "In the past this information has been suppressed, but now it can be told. Every man, woman, and mutant on this planet shall know the truth about de-evolution."

Booji replies with a famous line: "Oh, dad, we're all devo!"

A series of rapid-fire cuts of the letters in "Devo" appears (with the music of "Mechanical Man" found on Hardcore Devo: Volume One), and then we cut to Mark Mothersbaugh in a Kent State classroom (actually the Governance Chambers), delivering a lecture. As Motherbaugh delivers the lyrics to Jocko Homo, the classroom enters a frenzy of excitement, ending in a near riot.

The film ends with a scene of Booji Boy being stabbed and his mask removed. Then the credits play in a style similarly to the title with an extremely distorted version of "Because" by The Beatles playing. The film ends with a shot of the word "Devo" in neon flashing off.

QED Wikipedia