"I Trust My Ears"

The following article by noted audio engineer Ethan Winer offers a cogent explanation for why we believe what we hear. As Winer explains, two people each claiming to hear different things can actually both be right:

Why We Believe

A very good article...

I used this comb-filtering effect positively in my dedicated acoustics room in many ways with many resonators of different parameters and location... The result was stupendous...( i called this my mechanical room equalizer)

My headphone of choice the AKG K340 hibryd is extraordinary precisely because of his dual acoustic chamber with resonators playing positively with combsfiltering effect because Dr. Gorike was a physicist and acoustician...

Acoustics rule, not price not the gear but first and last acoustic (Yes gear design matter and source and synergy but not as much as acoustic and psycho-acoustics tools)

Once this is said , the combfiltering effect is huge...

but reducing all others factors to it to debunk audiophile is wrong sorry...

I used many "tweaks"  and they are not the result of combfiltering effect...

For example i used well located Schumann generator with positive impact...

etc...

Combfiltering effect and he is right here  makes objective judgment of audiophile products or acoustics  new parameters hard to really spot...

But when you play with combfiltering effect parameters and able to master them  you are able to perceive what comes from it and what do not...

His conclusion about the power of acoustics is right and it is what i said here for years but he explained it better than i did...

Subjectivist as objectivist miss the psycho-acoustics factors and the power of physical acoustics parameters controls...

Over the years I have seen many "religious" arguments in newsgroups and web forums. The science-minded objectivists assert that everything can be measured, and things like replacement AC wall outlets cannot possibly affect the sound no matter what the subjectivist "tweakers" claim. The subjectivists argue back they are certain they can hear a difference and the objectivists are simply measuring the wrong things.

It now appears that both sides have been right all along! Some things really are too insignificant to change the sound audibly, but often the wrong things have been measured too. The room you listen in has far more influence on what you hear than any device in the signal path, including even the loudspeakers in most cases. It makes perfect sense that the one thing neither camp has ever considered - acoustic comb filtering - turns out to be the real culprit.

@ezwind - (great Pigpen song, btw) - thing about the Ramones is that their musicianship was perfect for the music they played; they were tight, powerful, and energetic  as can be, and nobody could play Ramones music like the Ramones. The purpose of the music was to get people jumping around and moshing and such, not to sit and think deeply about it. They weren't about social or political statements - that's more the Dead Kennedys territory - their songs were often quite cartoonish, they were about humor and fun. 

+1 @panzrwagn 

Yup I got the Pareidolia thing down pat.  I see faces everywhere.  Really disturbing when its pitch black and I still see faces. Must be some neuronal malfunction.

Ok, back to my closet know for some rest.

Regards,

barts

At this point, I trust my own ears far above anyone eo. I learn a lot from others, but I know the sound of voices, instruments, and drums etc after a large number of decades listening!

So you can choose to trust your senses and interpretation of those senses by your brain, or not. And so we all make mistakes, obviously our senses and brains not always right. Point is why is this such a big deal for enjoyment of our audio systems?

Put this way, of course it isn't a big deal. If things stayed on that level, everything would be perfectly copacetic, because at the end of the day everyone is free to build systems that please their tastes using whatever means and techniques they see fit, and enjoy music they love in peace.

The trouble comes from the folks who perorate endlessly on forums and in online rags, telling grandiose tales of stunning sound improvements allegedly due to modest tweaks or devices never designed to have any effect on sound quality.