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Pat, the point is that the test taken as a whole produced

a rather dismal positive result when we take into account the wildy differing test units. Your focusing on some particular detail doesn't change that fact. Like you said Pat, "A DBT was hardly necessary", indeed!, yet despite that it came damn close to falling flat on its face!

I believe the test to be a particularly good one for demonstrating that one would be very foolhardly to rely on such tests for determining anything of any great significance.

I should add the test in question was clearly done with much greater care than what we typically witness of amateur tests in general. However, that said it can be pointed out that it does share one major characteristic with such amateur tests, namely listening in an alien environment which can in no way be equated with the intimacy of one's own private listening room.

Of course nothing can truly replicate the ideal of one's own space but certainly there are settings that are significantly better than that described in the Stereophile test. For example if one makes a habit of visiting a given audio shop, spending considerable time listening in the rooms, preferably left entirely alone to do one's own music selection swapping, etc. then one can get to the point of being able to make sound judgement when evaluating components.

Likewise if one spends quality time getting familiar with a friend's space. It's not going to be accomplished in a hour or two be once you've got 10 or more hours logged over multiple visits then it becomes a setting in which one can make sound judgements.

Very very few (any?) blind tests take such basic commonsensical motions to heart. Instead were are treated to a parade of simplistic platitude such as "if there's a difference it will be heard", claims that once the identity of components are concealed differences magically evaporate, etc., etc. How many blind tests results have you seen in listeners were pre-tested to demonstrate that they could at least claim to be able to discern between the test units *before* the formal? Why have some listener enlist as a test subject if he/she can't claim to hears differences in casual sighted listening?; I'll remind you Pat that some of the DBT loving proponets have already conceeded this point (I'll point you to the thread if needed, but no more!).

Now when we additionally consider that many amateur tests are conducted by naysayers out to demoinstrate "scientifically" the foolhardness of their "subjective" fellow hobbists, and I can personally point you a group of fanatically crazy naysayers with a history of doing exactly that!, then the whole thing moves into the area of pure self-serving foolishness.

All of which brings us full circle ... who, besides such
ideologically driven folk, conduct controlled blind tests these days, where can one turn for a ready catalog of current well documented serious tests?; let's have no more pointing to the ancient ABX site data. Isn't it really a case of "too much ado over nothing"? ... just talk talk talk!


No Guru, No Method, No Teacher

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