What are we objectivists missing?


I have been following (with much amusement) various threads about cables and tweaks where some claim "game changing improvements" and other claim "no difference".  My take is that if you can hear a difference, there must be some difference.  If a device or cable or whatever measures exactly the same it should sound exactly the same.  So what are your opinions on what those differences might be and what are we NOT measuring that would define those differences?

jtucker

Showing 1 response by hartf36

Perhaps everything we hear CAN be measured, but - clearly - not everything measured can be heard.

Our individual ears, and brains, and personal listening spaces (including gear) are all............individual.  Simply put, we don't hear things the same, regardless of measurements.  Our systems could "measure" the exact same.  We won't respectively hear them that way because my left ear has some high frequency loss, likely due to a lifetime of shooting sports. You may have some loss in certain frequencies that makes YOUR hearing entirely unique.  Like a fingerprint.  No measurement will change that.  It is what YOU hear with YOUR ears/brain that makes some things sound good, others not so much.  Throw in individual "listening skills" and it would seem to sharpen further, recognizing that being a good "listener" still won't fill in those lost (audible) frequencies (though a decent EQ might help you out a bit....).  But it certainly adds to even more individualized hearing.

"If you can hear a difference, there must be some difference."  The difference could be that I moved an armchair from one corner of my listening room to another, and it completely changed the room acoustics, all else being equal.  Does that count?

I don't understand why this subject is such a sticky wicket.