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Proof and perception

John Curl is the designer of several of the best-regarded pieces of hi-fi gear in audio history. When he talks about testing, he isn't talking about testing one pretty amplifier with an ultra-thick face place against another piece of jewelry that might be a little prettier or more expensive. He's talking about (I'm presuming here, since I've never watched him and he's never told me) differentiating between units with slightly different capacitor values, or maybe different capacitor or resister types. Or maybe with a slight change in the circuit layout. Am I right John?

Some folks here seem to be suggesting, with this "sighted testing" business, that people like JC are being swayed by a pretty face plate. You got the wrong guy, I'd say.

If you want to do a scientific experiment that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that a difference in the sound really exists, ABX is the only way to go. There's no other way to prove it. But that doesn't mean that ABX is the only way of PERCEIVING something. The very idea is ludicrous. People can perceive things that they cannot prove. Some people can perceive things that others can't perceive. Most of the time, we don't feel any obligation to prove that we perceive what we perceive. And that's a very good thing.

I can't prove it, but it seems to me that anyone who consistently produces audio components of the quality of JC MUST have a pretty good ear. Do you really think that he does what he does by consistently fooling himself? By believing that he hears things that he doesn't really hear? Or do you think, maybe, that his amplifiers sound just like a $99 model you'd buy at Circuit City?

There's a larger point here though, which JC's contribution to this discussion makes, but which hasn't yet been made explicit. It isn't just the faceplate-gazing price-tag-gawking audiophiles who dismiss ABX as a useful tool. And it isn't just editors and writers who are (as some absurdly claim) in the pocket of the manufacturers. It's people who design top-quality hi-fi gear, people like Curl and Crump who can hear the sound of a capacitor change or a circuit trace moved half an inch to the left. There's science behind it, sure. And some day we'll understand it. But for now the design of fine audio components remains phenomenological. It requires careful listening, sound, basic science, a good ear, and lots of experience. It does NOT require scientific proof.

Be Well,
Jim Austin

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