@devinplombier i can see from this new thread, as with many other comments you have previously made, that the issue of others observing sound quality improvements that you are unable to perceive, deeply bothers you. It is a good thing, in a sense, because it shows you struggle internally about it, because someone confident about their beliefs would not feel need to disparage others about theirs.
There is simple reasoning to sort it out your struggle. First off, in science, it is not only silly, but illogical to argue for the inexistence of something one is unable to perceive. You don’t need to read up on it, it’s even less scientific than it is basic common sense.
Second, it is very well known that human beings are not all born equal. My quick muscle ability has never, and could never equal that of the top million sprinters in the world, much less that of Usain Bolt. On the other hand, as a trained architect, my ability to visually perceive will certainly be at a considerably higher state of development, even if my eyesight may not be among the very best from birth - I am able to see if something is off level by a quarter inch over four feet. Likewise, we are able to taste, smell, hear….and listen, at many different levels. Some of us have amazing equipment to hear with, but haven’t yet trained to know how far that hearing can take our ability to listen. Others have learned to develop their listening skills so acutely, it compensates greatly for any lack of natural born hearing ability.
With so many audiophiles reporting on their perceptions of such, the refrain of confirmation bias, or whatever else it is deemed to be, simply does not make sense - we are here to share our experiences, not our lack of them.
So, there are three ways forward for your struggle. The first is the good one - that your hearing may be good, but your critical listening skills are as yet not fully developed, in which case the difficult journey begins. It took me a good five years to develop mine. I have friends, not merely audiophile ones, who are able to critically listen to nuance I am still unable to discern. I don’t grumble about it, because I know from prior experience all the things I know now that i was never able to perceive before. It is not easy to develop these skills, and it will take effort and patience. Listening to nuance in the time domain is very difficult.
The second way forward is that your ability to develop critical listening may be strong, but your actual physical hearing ability prevents the development of your ability to perceive at depth. This would be a truly unfortunate situation. I know a little about how this feels too, as I have a friend who has had his hearing fully tested to know that he is unable to hear nuance of frequency past 7khz. Perhaps there are many others like this friend I have, who haven’t fully tested their hearing to know what is naturally missing, but I do suspect (not know, of course!) that most say they do not hear, because they have not learned how to listen. In this case, one can either bemoan their inability to take this hobby further, or rejoice a little, since at least money will be saved.
The third way forward is actually more unfortunate than the second. It would be that hearing ability is either perfectly fine as average, critical listening development ability is good, but confirmation bias prevents one from making the effort to further that ability. It’s the laziest form of confirmation bias in its claim that something that cannot be personally perceived cannot exist.
it is an amazing hobby we have here, please don’t disparage others who share their findings just because you are unable to perceive those findings.
In friendship - kevin