Home Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Re: This is obfuscation

Jim,

I've never actually did the test the way I proposed it be done. That proposition was made by myself as being a viable substitute for using an ABX/DBT. I attempted to do manuelly what an ABX does electronically, for those who ONLY accept an ABX/DBT as valid blind test.

The test I have passed on interconnects was to have a friend pick one of two ICs as he so chose. After he selected the IC a towel was hung in front of the system so I couldn't see which IC was being used. Using my stereo in my home I never got less than 8 out of 10 correct. Sometimes I get 10 out of 10 or 9 out of 10 correct. I don't know why but after 8 times it just gets more difficult for me. I don't know if it's listener fatigue, boredom with testing, stress as some claim or what. Perhaps it's simply I believe it's more difficult after 8 times so gets more difficult after 8 times!

In other people's homes the sucess rate would definitely correlate with how intimately familiar I was with the system in question. At my friend Rick's home the stereo (Counterpoint SA5000 preamp/SA 220 power amp, Meridian 808 CDP & all XLO Reference wires) which I was very familiar with, sometimes 7 out of 10, sometimes 8 out of 10, but never better than that. At other peoples homes whose stereo I didn't know & component quality wasn't as high as Rick and my own, sometimes it was even as low as 5 out of 10 which is like guessing. This is why I insist the test MUST be done on a system I am initmately familiar with. Also I'm assuming the naysayers would insist on my using wires that are only subtly different. I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet if the wires sounded substantially different the naysayers would insist one of the two ICs was "improperly designed". That seems to be an objectivist catch-all for when any audio component sounds different. They never believe it's evidence that components sound different, but rather it means one of the components is "improperly designed" or broken. What would be interesting would be which one of the two would be considered "improperly designed"?

As far as using an ABX is concerned. "IF" I was allowed to live with one in my system and "IF" I came to believe it was indeed transparent, I'd consider allowing it's use. However anything I've read or heard about it from sources I trust leads me to believe it's not transparent.

Thetubeguy1954

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Kimber Kable  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]