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Why Do So Many Audiophiles Reject Blind Testing Of Audio Components?

Because it was scientifically proven to be useless more than 60 years ago.

A speech scientist by the name of Irwin Pollack have conducted an experiment in the early 1950s. In a blind ABX listening test, he asked people to distinguish minimal pairs of consonants (like “r” and “l”, or “t” and “p”).

He found out that listeners had no problem telling these consonants apart when they were played back immediately one after the other. But as he increased the pause between the playbacks, the listener’s ability to distinguish between them diminished. Once the time separating the sounds exceeded 10-15 milliseconds (approximately 1/100th of a second), people had a really hard time telling obviously different sounds apart. Their answers became statistically no better than a random guess.

If you are interested in the science of these things, here’s a nice summary:

Categorical and noncategorical modes of speech perception along the voicing continuum

Since then, the experiment was repeated many times (last major update in 2000, Reliability of a dichotic consonant-vowel pairs task using an ABX procedure.)

So reliably recognizing the difference between similar sounds in an ABX environment is impossible. 15ms playback gap, and the listener’s guess becomes no better than random. This happens because humans don't have any meaningful waveform memory. We cannot exactly recall the sound itself, and rely on various mental models for comparison. It takes time and effort to develop these models, thus making us really bad at playing "spot the sonic difference right now and here" game.

Also, please note that the experimenters were using the sounds of speech. Human ears have significantly better resolution and discrimination in the speech spectrum. If a comparison method is not working well with speech, it would not work at all with music.

So the “double blind testing” crowd is worshiping an ABX protocol that was scientifically proven more than 60 years ago to be completely unsuitable for telling similar sounds apart. And they insist all the other methods are “unscientific.”

The irony seems to be lost on them.

Why do so many audiophiles reject blind testing of audio components? - Quora
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Showing 7 responses by audition__audio

audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
dogma,

Which reality? Yours or mine? You have already stated that you are against conspicuous consumption so we cant possibly take anything you say as objective because we dont know your standard. Your entire stance on this issue is completely untenable.
audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
Setting up a proper blind test is very difficult and must address several issues while other issues with the test cant be controlled. You must guarantee the precise volume and you must have the ability to switch very quickly (seconds). 

One of my friends was flown to participate in one of the Harmon tests involving, I believe, a new Infinity speaker. These new speakers were up against B & W 801s. Output was identical with 3 to 5 second snippets of the same music played between the 2 speakers with preferences tallied by the listeners 20 times. I think that he said it was all in mono and he was the only person to pick the B & W every time.

When I asked him how it was he said that it was actually somewhat stressful and he thought the test flawed on numerous levels. First and foremost he thought that the upstream gear had a significant impact on the sound of the speakers and that this aspect only proved which system configuration sounded better at that moment. 

So even when dletch2 does his informal blind tests, he only proves that in his system and at that moment his taste says that one component betters another. 



audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
Well how can you fault a business for trying to manufacture a market? And it is different in that you can buy a product and decide for yourself, using whatever methods you choose, if the item is worth the asking. A tangiable product which you can audition and compare against other similarly priced products. It isnt even remotely the same thing and you suggesting it is similar suggests that you are simply another casualty of this age.
audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
Well after you buy something what you choose to do is up the the individual and I feel it no more likely with an expensive product than a cheaper one. We see clues of this everywhere on this forum with suggestions that a Magnaplanar or horn speaker is better than the Wilson or other types. I see nothing wrong advertising goals because questioning proper etiquette removes individual responsiblity from the experience. You might say that the person who succumbs to advertising and buys a very expensive speaker was manipulated but I would never presume to know the persons motivation. Nor that they were inspired some dletch2 bias or for any other reason that it sounded better. Why dont some of you admit that there is a huge moral piece to all of this in terms of levels of accepted consumption (see Wilson thread).


Seriously dltech2, you have to come up with something better than cults. You are wasting my time with these stretches. You are the one asking us to join the blind listening cult and telling us that without this method we are being duped. We are not asking you to change anything in your regimen we just propose that it doesnt accomplish what you think in all cases and are not asking you to join our cult. Make no mistake, as per your definition, these are both cults apparently. 



audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
What they think they hear is the same as what they hear! 

dletch2,
You are in no position to make this judgement. This is my whole point. Just because you seem to find solace in double blind tests doesnt mean that our observations without are any less viable. Those of us who have been around the block more than once are comfortable with our decisions and your validation mean nothing. At least not to me. Nothing helps critical listening more than experience and detailed comparisons between components sighted or not.

So lets whip em out, place them on the table and compare. Give me your background in terms of 2 channel and your current system specifics. Analog or digital, etc. Also list room treatments, dimensions and any other relevant information like age. If you want to include degrees and your profession that is fine.

Please stop trying to place all enthusiasts in the same small box simply for your peace of mind. And stop ascribing the same motivations and biases to all as if this were some cosmic constant.
audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
Passion driven undertakings are no more or less prone to real answers than purely intellectual undertakings. You are making a meaningless comparison because no "best" exists when it comes to most of the pursuits driven by our senses. There are no real answers, just opinions as there is no standard of correct/real. Further, measurements get you part of the way, but certain devices have attributes that cant be measured but sound better in many instances. Vacuum tubes would be a perfect example or tube amps if you like. Take it one step further and determine if it actually is some of the things that make it measure poorly that actually make it sound better.
audition__audio
1,325 posts
 
Well I have often wondered why people would want to belong to such a clearly defined group or any group for that matter. I wonder if the naysayers have diverse political opinions or if they lean predominately to the left or right. One would think that certain psychological tendencies would trickle down into other areas of their personal lives. What I do see is a paranoid attitude which at its core involves some sort of concern over being duped. What is audio without listening and how could you base any decision on anything but listening? 
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