Who knows if the discs really make any difference? But negative bias is far less likely than good old positive confirmation bias and the venerable placebo effect. What bothers me is that many of these products have stratospheric profit margins because that is the surest way to trigger confirmation bias-- price it high and lard it up with pseudo-scientific claims that are next to, if not impossible to prove or even comprehend. Just my opinion, but most would be far better off if they focused on room acoustics before going for a ride down twisted tweak road.
SR Tuning Discs, Psychoacoustic Bias and Listening Fatigue
By the way the SR Tuning Discs are snake oil. They don’t make a damned bit of difference. Careful about psychoacoustic bias. Fresher ears hear small differences greater than fatigued ears. At first listen, again A-B ing instantaneously with streamer cable plus Disc against exact same master and material on CD player transport digitally into same Bryston DAC, the two sources about 5 seconds apart to hear “phrase” of that duration in instant back to back repetition, I THOUGHT I heard a shocking large difference. But it was the first listen of the day. Then removed Disc from cable and did same thing. A LITTLE less dramatic difference. Ok. Then put Disc back onto cable. About the SAME as last. Hmmm. Then repeated this whole process about 6 more times to be sure. Then left room for hour. Came back in and did test once WITHOUT Disc. BIG DIFFERENCE. Like first test of the day with Disc ON cable.
CONCLUSION : THE DIFFERENCES I HEARD WHICH I INITIALLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE SR TUNING DISCS WERE PSYCHOACOUSTIC AND LISTENING FATIGUE BIAS. SYNERGISTIC RESEARCH TUNING DISCS MAKE ZERO DIFFERENCE.
But that’s my opinion. You can take it with a grain of salt if you so desire.
Showing 4 responses by wesheadley
@hce1 -- There's all kinds of bias, including group bias. I'm just saying that without any empirical corroboration, many of these tweaks that rely upon untested pseudoscience are more likely confirmation bias and/or placebo effect than anything else. That is the simplest explanation. Take the bias that extremely expensive high-end cable sound better than well made cables of comparably materials, like OF copper, using quality connectors assembled properly that happen to cost vastly less. That a $5000 power cable is, for example, simply audibly superior to a $300 power cable. I do not believe there has ever been a blind test -- ever -- that has born this out -- that the differences are in fact improvements and therefore justify the stupid money pricing of many of them -- backed up by scientific sounding nonsense. People want to believe in these things, that is clear, and I think many (not all) of these types of companies are gouging their customers with their bogus claims. |
@hce1 - I never intended to denigrate anyone with my criticisms, and looking at what I wrote, I can't see where I did that. I know for a fact that some cable companies are in fact making obscene margins with very questionable product claims. This is not research that trickles down either. Each unproven claim is based upon (as a rule) an untested theory. This is no different than pointing out that the electronic devices used to find spirits or ghosts, don't. Despite the belief by the many people that buy them to the contrary. |
@hce1 -- Thank you. Apology accepted. I have been an audiophile for nearly my entire life, purely for the love of music. I have tried many types of tweaks over the years with an open mind -- always an open mind. My policy is to live with a system change for a while before making a judgement on it. Then, if I believe that I’ve made a true improvement, to remove the tweak and live with that a while. Things like better cables (better is not equated to ever ascending prices) prove themselves out over time -- so when they’re removed, it’s often easy to hear what’s now missing from the presentation. The most obvious tweaks that I’ve made almost aways involve the listening space itself. Improving EM noise levels, reflections, etc. Sometimes you just don’t know what you have improved until you take it away and live for a time with the absence. Some things are obvious and can be heard immediately when introduced and then later removed. Those I put back. If I have to reason and argue with myself over a tweak’s impact of the sound I learned that this, for me, is a sign that it probably doesn’t need to be there. If that’s the case, then I err on the side of keeping it simple over adding more complexity to achieve an uncertain benefit. Finally, until the room itself has been tuned to it’s maximum potential, my experience has been that it’s better to put the effort there -- even if that’s (usually) not as much fun as searching for that elusive silver bullet. |