Placebo Effect...a good thing?


I'm just a beginner into the world of the high-end (19 year old EE student), but the more I learn about audio and the entire culture surrounding it, I get more and more confused of the goals around creating the "perfect" sound system. I'm not an idiot, and I know that no matter how close an approximation is to the original event, be it vinyl, SACD, CD, multi-channel, or whatever, it is still only going to be an approximation. So then why try to recreate the original event at all? My best guess, and belief, is to capture the "magic" of that event in your living room. I've been reading a lot of articles by various giants in the audio field, and there has been a lot of talk recently about "snake-oil" in the audio industry. That is, no one can tell the difference in a double-blind test between two similar componenets; their guesses will be no better than chance. The only real differences people hear are due to the Placebo Effect: their brains generate a response, perhaps truthful in their own minds, that two similar products have completely different sounds. My question is, is that a bad thing? My experience from this comes from a power cord dilemma. My father auditioned a power cord from JPS Labs for his CDP. After it had burned-in a little, he asked me to listen to the difference and see what I heard. At first listen, I heard less brightness in the treble, and an overall ease of presentation that was not there before. So he arranged a simple double-blind test. It stumped me. I chose the cheap power cord, although the differences to me were so slight, they were near irrelevant. We discussed it for a while, and he ended up buying the cord anyways. Why? Because HE ENJOYED the system more with it in than out. Maybe it didn't effect the sound. WHO CARES? The point of a stereo is to listen to music. If you buy a 15,000 dollar line stage and you listen to music 15 more minutes a day because of it, isn't that an improvement? That's why I laugh everytime someone makes fun of a "tubehead." "Extremely high even-order distortions" they say. If you listen to music more because of a purchase you made, then you made a good purchase. If you don't, you didn't. PERIOD. I just get a crack out of all this finger pointing. Tubes vs. solid state. Vinyl vs. CD. If you buy a turntable to break out all the LPs you have sitting in your closet, and find you prefer the sound of analogue to digital, GOOD FOR YOU. I delight in people enjoying music, be it through a $500,000 wacko system, or a $150 JVC boom box. And besides, it makes me feel good to have a nice looking set of cables tying up my system. They may not sound any better (which I think they do), but I DO listen to more music because of them. Just a thought.
hueske

Showing 4 responses by lak

Hueske, I do not know what a 19 year old EE student is, however (IMHO) you write as if you are LIGHT YEARS ahead of 19 years of age. You bring out some great questions which have more than one answer and the posts above mine shed light upon some questions, but there is no absolute answer. You are very observant and I will bet your Dads interest in Audio helped to create your wisdom and insight. If the music sounds good to the listener that’s all that matters.
I think after some people have been into audio for a while they become fixated upon tweaking a system here and there, upgrading components, spending large sums of money in the process. Their goal might be to create what they believe is a near to perfect system (in their mind) in there home. When they have completed their mission, something else new comes along and we are into a vicious spiral that might never stop. If that’s the way one wants to spend their money and they don’t have other habits that drain the finances (tobacco,drugs, excessive alcohol, gambling, etc.) then I say no harm, no foul! (DON'T FORGET THE WIFE ACCEPTANCE FACTOR):-)
Hueske, regarding the "the have no IDEA", your to late, Yamaha already designed the (old technology) DSP-1 (Digital Sound Field Processor) that can recreate what ever you want while you play your CD, LP, radio or what ever! It's older but really a cool toy!

PS. Tell your Mom that your Dad said it was alright to purchase the new audio toy and vice versa. That's what my kids tried to do!:-)
Albertporter, I agree!

Hueske, better not let your Mom read this site.

Bluefin, are threr more like you around? :-)