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This thread is an embarrassment on so many levels

This is the never-ending audiophile debate and I don't expect to be able to change it. But, seriously folks, this is an embarrassment.

There are really two questions here:

1) Are subjectivist perceptions "real," or do they exist only in the minds of the listeners?
2) Regardless of the answer to question (1), what do we make of the rigor of the arguments on both sides?

With respect to question (1), my personal answer is, "I don't care." These are very subtle differences, that most listeners wouldn't even notice. As I've explained elsewhere, it's just not important to me. It may be important to others, though, and I'm fine with that.

So the real question, in my opinion, is the quality of the arguments being put forth to justify the different claims being made. This is not a symmetrical argument (though some will try to portray it that way). The subjectivists make extraordinary claims, and the burden is on them is to prove their cases. It is not the responsibility of skeptics to prove anything.

Subjectivist thinking is plagued by confirmation bias. Obviously (and we see this in all kinds of groups -- religious zealots, conspiracy theorists, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, and on and on) people cling tightly to their cherished beliefs and no amount of contrary evidence or reasoned argument will sway them. This clinging to beliefs and selective filtering of information is documented and proven human behavior. It's sad, scary, and pathetic, but ultimately forgivable, I suppose, because this is how our brains evolved to work.

A note on the human brain. Contrary to what many claim, human senses and perception are not precise and infinitely resolving. Our senses exist to promote our survival, and the brain does not need, nor is it capable of maintaining, a real-time, comprehensive map of every stimulus captured by our senses. The picture inside our heads of what's happening in the world around us is patched together from incomplete and often flawed raw data. The brain fills in the gaps to produce the illusion of a big picture. The brain fools itself, in other words. Constantly.

I've said this before. Any audiophile who starts an argument with the premise that human hearing is the most precise measuring instrument imaginable has lost the argument before it even begins. Any audiophile who tries to justify his perceptions without taking into account just how frail and fallible the sense of hearing is has no business expecting thinking people to take him seriously.

Another incredible embarrassment is the way audiophiles seize upon random, disconnected semi-technical facts and put them forth as proof of their beliefs. Facts they do not understand and cannot place in the context of their real-world significance. So, the magnetic permeability of silver is a smidgeon different from that of copper. And therefore, those of us who are skeptics are expected to take this as proof that claimed audible differences between silver and copper wire are due to the properties of the wire (and not of the listeners and their expectations). Hogwash. Without offering a plausible, legitimate, verifiable chain of cause-and-effect to demonstrate how a difference in material properties leads to the perceptual change, the entire argument is a non-starter. In other words, hogwash.

There's probably no point in going further. It's fine to experiment with tweaks, and you are guaranteed to hear differences. That's just the way your brain works. If you take care to eliminate subjective biases, the perceived differences will go away (or at least the ones that have no cause, or where the physical difference is below the threshold of perception). You are free to continue to believe the difference you believe you hear are real, but lacking experimental proof or a plausible explanation for what you're hearing, this ultimately becomes a matter of faith.

There are many faiths in the world. I don't believe in god, I don't believe the moon landings were faked, I don't believe vaccinations cause autism. And so on. I'm not opposed to faith; it serves its purposes. In an ideal world, IMHO, people would understand the difference between faith and reason, and compartmentalize their thinking appropriately, recognizing that faith and reason occupy different domains of thought.

What saddens and frustrates and scares me is that so many people are so incapable of keeping faith and reason straight in their heads. And, unfortunately, there are many pressing issues in the world, far more important than whether or not "wire makes a difference," issues on which human lives and maybe even the survival of the species depend, and people are responding to these issues based on unreasoned faith.

Scary, indeed.

-Henry

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