"I Trust My Ears"


Do you? Can you? Should you?

I don’t. The darn things try to trick me all the time!

Seriously, our ears are passive sensors. They forward sonic data to our brains. Ears don’t know if the data in question represents a child crying, a Chopin prelude, or a cow dropping a cowpie. That’s our brains’ job to figure out.

Similarly, our brains decide whether A sounds better than B, whether a component sounds phenomenal, etc.

So, "I trust my ears" should really be "I trust my brains".

And that has a different ring to it, doesn’t it?

 

 

devinplombier

Showing 2 responses by gdaddy1

How YOU perceive the sound is most important. The physics is known but perception is not. Many variables to consider.

Two experienced listeners can have two completely different opinions listening to the same component. Hearing sensitivity varies from person to person. Expectation bias can also cause differences in opinion. Placebo effect also. Even your mood can affect the sound.

Bottom line is YOU are the final judge of what sounds best.

@newbee   #1

A person with a high frequency hearing loss may prefer a speaker that's a bit bright.