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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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In Reply to: The link was intended to inform about methodology -- not statistics posted by Richard BassNut Greene on August 6, 2003 at 06:04:22:
>>It's your money to spend on whatever components you prefer.
But if they are components whose differences would be inaudible to your ears in a blind A-B comparison, your long-term satisfaction with your audio equipment is unlikely to change. <<I would caution you about any short term blind A-B comparisons. They will not tell you what you have to live with in the long term. Listening fatigue can be a problem that is not identifiable in these tests because it will not be known which, or both, of the components under test is causing it. If a component causes you listening fatigue over a couple of hours and another does not, then these A-B tests are not useful to discover it unless your A-B trials are hours or even days long with hours or days of rest in between. Only long term audition will tell about this. People will not in general perform A-B tests for two hours per trial to try to determine the most fatiguing component.
As an example, I have been spending time on a new amp and I found out that it was too fatiguing to my ears and I wanted it off after only about an hour. I have spent several days and several iterations trying to tame this. I am still optimizing the amp. There are no quickie A-B tests I can rely on that gives me reliable information about long term satisfaction. I have to make changes and then live with it for a couple of days and then see if it's better or worse as a result.
One of the things not well written about is the half-life of the placebo effect. It is not infinite, but how long exactly is it? Not a perfect measure there, for sure. This means you can't be fooled forever by something that is not there. Eventually you realize the pill is not really doing any long term good when it's for a never-ending chronic condition. It may be great for a short acute condition, but not forever in a chronic condition. That's why long term listening will eventually shake out the proud papa syndrome and other such causes of a short term placebo effect. At least it works well for me, and I've had lots of practice. In both medications that I take long term and in long term audio tests, the placebo effect is way overstated in its power. Definitely the placebo effect works on me like anybody else, but its effect has a finite life span. Eventually it fades away and I have a much more "objective" subjective evaluation. In the short span of the quick A-B test, sighted tests can have a big placebo effect going, and blind tests can cause you to overlook the long-term "feel" or "wear-and-tear" of the sound, this "feel" being the very subtle aspects you normally can't hear in the short term.
If a component cannot pass a difference in a blind A-B test AND it has no long term effect, then I would make the conclusion at that point that the change just does not matter. And there have been many of those I have come across. The difference in short lengths of internal wiring between different solid copper gauges has shown little effect for me, and hardly matters, for one example. That's for my ears, at least. Others may disagree.
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Follow Ups
- Re: The link was intended to inform about methodology -- not statistics - kurt s 08:19:27 08/06/03 (2)
- Re: The link was intended to inform about methodology -- not statistics - Commuteman 10:10:59 08/06/03 (1)
- Yes. That is a good example. nt - kurt s 10:37:10 08/06/03 (0)
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