Is the "improvement" real or imnagined?


This thread may be of interest to no one, but I was inspired by @inna post to start a thread. I had a recent experience that may touch on broader unresolved (unresolvable?) questions. I'm mostly happy with my system and my room has been professionally treated. I don't have an ideal listening chair-the back comes up to ear level, maybe a little above. Concessions have to be made to old and crumbling neck vertebra that need support.

I know that high back seating can in theory affect the sound through reflections. So, I got the bright idea to try to mitigate that-I'm sure its not original.

I bought a weighted blanket-quite thick and covered the chair. I put an Afghan blanket over that, the last one my mom crocheted, so its magical already. I perceive improved detail and better imaging -certainly not huge, but a subtle improvement that I hear, or at least think I hear.

So, maybe there is some science behind this, makes sense the blanket would reduce reflections. On the other hand, maybe its simply expectation bias, placebo effect, whatever, at work because there is science behind that as well, and its hard to imagine this is a big thing.

So, how do I know if its real or imagined? Its not a big deal, no real investment and only a very subtle perceived change, but it does relate to other issues that are often debated, sometimes heatedly, on this forum. How do you account for, or eliminate expectation bias, other than a proper double blind test which I'm guessing most of us are not going to do when auditioning equipment? 

I found this interesting, maybe no one else does. Thoughts?

 

kerrybh

. . . A/Bing chairs is easier than other A/Bs I have attempted to do.

Anyway, I didn’t use my steel folding chair from the garage because it sits to high. I have another folding chair (plastic back and bottom) that I cut the legs shorter to get my ears at tweeter level. It was quite uncomfortable.

I’ve always admitted to not having great hearing, probably due to 28 years of my adult life working on airplanes with less than adequate hearing protection in my second to last career, and I have often thought that maybe I have been wasting my money and time pursuing something that I may never be able to hear anyway. But there is a difference in my small flawed listening room between the sonic presentation in a small folding chair which is totally obscured by my body and a soft upholstered high backed chair that my body does not obscure when I am seated in it.

I don’t have a great vocabulary for describing what I hear or don’t hear, but the best way I can describe it for now is that in the small low backed folding chair there seems to be more air, or if not that, maybe the air sounds cleaner. If that makes sense. However (and this part I am not sure about yet, so I guess I will have to go back to the soft upholstered chair for further listening) on some CDs vocals may sound a bit unfavorably brighter in the small chair. I have no doubt that my room needs more absorption, and I am kind of wondering if the soft upholstered high backed chair was providing a bit of that.

I listened to a variety of music this afternoon, and the MFSL Supertramp/Crime Of The Century (that I started with to warm things up with) sounded almost palatable for a few songs, but I was fatigued by it before it was through. Richard And Linda Thomson/Shoot Out The Lights leaped out with vibrancy plus texture. But I’d need to go back and listen to the entire CD while seated in the high backed upholstered chair, because as I remember, I was quite impressed and surprised by the SQ of that old CD the last time I heard it in my regular chair. I just bought another CD on ebay: Happy Coat by Shota Osabe Piano Trio, and I liked it the first time I heard it yesterday, and this afternoon I think maybe I liked it more . . . but I am not sure. I followed that with Emmylou Harris/Live At The Ryman, which I usually really like, but today, after Happy Coat, Emmylou’s voice sounded a tad bright. It had not struck me that way before.

One thing I am sure about is that sitting in that folding chair for hours at a time is, at best, an uncomfortable experience. For $99 I think I am going to buy the low backed Poanga Chair from IKEA to continue this experiment with. Worst case scenario is that I will have another chair to put somewhere in the house.

 

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it." - William Arthur Ward. 
 

+1 @ghdprentice You beat me to the scientific explanation and I agree wholeheartedly.  

Your mom made the blanket. You love your mom. Of course it is better sitting on mom’s blanket.

 

@immatthewj 

interesting experiment

I have some racks that have been on order for some time. When they finally came in, they were destroyed in shipping. Once I get that done, maybe I’ll need to shop for a proper listening chair that  also is comfortable. 
it never ends

I have a powered recliner with a high-ish back (comes up to just below my earlobes). The headrest is adjustable and it actually sounds much better in the "back" position because there is space between the headrest and my ears, even though the difference is a mere 3-4 inches. 

But while that chair is more comfortable, I also have a very-easy-to-move rocking chair that doesn't extend past my shoulders and that, paired with an ottoman, are generally what I use when I'm listening.