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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

Showing 1 response by wstritt

wstritt
170 posts
 
It has been said by others, but I suspect that everyone's threshold for hearing differences is, well, different. When I upgraded from an old Sony receiver to a Musical Fidelity integrated amp, I heard a massive difference. When I added an Arcam CD player versus an old Magnavox 650, I didn't hear much difference but really didn't listen sided by side. I have since tacked on the new MF DAC (thinking that was why I didn't hear much) but don't really hear much difference between the Arcam direct or through the DAC. While not even single blind, I can flip back and forth and I hear something, or maybe I just think I do (the salesman certainly said he did when I took my Arcam to the store to listen ;^).

My conclusion is that there clearly are some differences I can hear but some that I can't but others probably can. Whether it is their training or hearing damage from sitting in the second row in front of the right speaker bank at a Chicago concert in 1974 that left my ears ringing for days, who knows.

At the end of the day, though, I enjoy the music when I have the time to listen.
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